Finding Her Focus
by crazycrazyme
Summary: Auron tells Rikku that she needs to start learning how to focus. But, what will he do if the very thing she starts focusing on is him? Aurikku.
1. A Slight Sense of Humor

**Chapter 1: **_A Slight Sense of Humor_

I've never understood people like him.

I mean, we've all met the type before, right? The stick-straight, got his panties so much in a bunch he can barely walk, sort of guy. Stone faced and silent, not letting a bit of joy or happiness come into his misrable life, or so he would like us to think.

Why do I think differently, you ask?

Because I'm Rikku, and that's why.

_And_ anyone who wears sunglasses like that on a daily basis has to have a sense of humor. I don't care if you're an Al Bhed, a maester of Yevon, or the Legendary Guardian, Sir Auron, yourself. Which he happens to be, by the way.

I snapped back to reality as my eyes followed his thick, has-to-be-a-million-degrees-in-there, red coat flapping in the breeze. Maybe that's why he wears one of his sleeves off of his arm, because he would fry like an egg on a black surface during a hot summer day without some bit of skin showing.

Uh oh, why is he stopping?

"Rikku, you need to focus. You haven't paid one bit of attention or have been any help in the past two hours," he turned, staring me down with his only eye that wasn't covered with a huge, almost scary looking scar. That scar just gives me the heebie jeebies. Once I start looking at it, I start thinking about how he got it, and then I have a huge storyline going in my head, and by the time my mind finally gets back to Spira, I've been staring at him for ten minutes.

My mind started spinning off into _The Adventures of Auron and the Huge Scar_ before I even had the chance to catch myself. I shook my head wildly, trying to clear my mind, but when I looked back up and around at the rest of the group, I found that everyone was staring at me, _again_.

Maybe that whole focusing thing would be something to work on. I'll just put it on my to-do list under saving Yuna from herself and smacking Wakka in the head with his own blitzball.

"Uh... what did you say again?" I asked, hands behind my back, toes curling up in my boots. Maybe if play it like I'm totally innocent, he'll never notice I was staring at him again. Right? RIGHT?

"Hrmph. Exactly my point," he grunted as he turned away from me.

I watched as that man, the Almightly Legendary Guardian Sir Auron, Mr. Wonderful himself, walked away as if he had a stick up his pants holding him straight up and down. And my mind, and everything in me, including that wonderful "resolve" that Mr. Wonderful keeps talking about, snapped.

"Stupid, stupid, grrr....." I mumbled, stomping a bit as I started walking again. I was towards the back of the group of us, so I figured that no one would really mind me talking to myself. The only one really in hearing distance was Kimahri, and he doesn't talk much anyway, so it was all good.

Unfortunatly, my being in the very back of the group acting like a crazy person didn't stop my many worried admirers from slipping back to check on me. Okay, maybe not many. Alright, alright... Yuna, my dear cousin, was the only one to halt her steps a bit to move to the back of the group.

"Rikku," she smiled, watching me slam my toes into the dirt. "Are you okay?"

"Sure," I grumbled, kicking stones and dirt all over. "It's always great fun to be scolded by _him._"

She put her fingers up to her cheek and tilted her head to the side a bit, and I grinned, knowing she was thinking. My cousin has a few little body signals that she uses when her mind is on something, and that was one of them. "I don't think he was trying to scold you, Rikku. I just think he's concerned, like the rest of us."

"About?" I asked distractedly as I noticed a perfect sized pebble sitting innocently in the middle of the path. I paused for a minute and looked around for any obstructions in my way. Yuna was walking beside me, and the rest of the group were so far ahead of us I couldn't even hear them talking. Then again, they probably weren't talking other than the occasional pestering by Tidus to whoever would listen to him.

I stepped back a few steps, then took a bit of a fast start as I pulled a Super-Duper-Rikku-Karate kick on the little round rock. The rock soared into the air, and I admired my wonderous job.

That is, until I heard a thunk, and a deep yell from far ahead on the path.

"Shit," I breathed. Yuna let out a small snicker beside me, but quickly covered it up.

"RIKKU!" I heard as I saw the flash of a crimson coat stomping in my direction. I glanced wildly around me, searching for somewhere to hide. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I found somewhere. I looked at Yuna, mouthed "sorry", and dove behind a large bush on the side of the path.

Sticks poked my eyes, and leaves tickled my skin, but my hiding spot worked perfectly.

"Rikku, you're wearing bright orange. Do you think I can't see you?"

Alright, maybe not. But it was a nice try, wasn't it?

"Yes, that's true," I said, standing up and trying to stall for more time before dear little cutie wootie Aurie ate me for dinner. "BUT..." I added, an idea forming in my head.

His eye rolled behind his sunglasses. I could tell that he was completely exasperated, but I still needed to stall, considering I saw the start of a daintly little red lump on the side of his forehead.

I was a dead girl walking and I knew it. But I figured, why not enjoy my last few minutes of life?

"But, what?"

"My shorts are green, Auron. Therefore..."

I could hear a snort come from Yuna as she covered her head in her hands. The rest of the party had made their way back towards our little showdown, and I noticed them all standing near our summoner, silly grins on their faces.

Auron's mouth twitched, almost into a smile. But it only happened for a second, and before I knew it, it was gone. "Therefore..." he repeated, trying to get the rest of the sentence out of me.

I stalled, trying to figure out the rest of what I was going to say. "Therefore... therefore, you couldn't see... my..."

"Butt," Tidus called out.

My face must have turned seventeen different shades of red while the entire peanut gallery over there busted into laughter. "I was going to say eyes," I mumbled.

Auron gave me a disapproving stare, and I felt it all the way down to my toes. "Have you wasted enough of our time yet?" he asked pointedly.

My eyes shifted towards the ground, and I felt the onset of tears coming, but I held them back the best that I could. "Yes, sir," I mumbled.

"Good," he said sternly, as he spun away from me again. The rest of the party shrugged at each other, then turned on the path towards Guadosalam.

Yuna started off too, but then she stopped, and looked back at me. "Maybe, Rikku, if you just tried to be a little bit more agreeable with him, this pilgrimage will be a bit more peaceful."

Now, if anyone else would have said that to me, I would have had their head. But let's face it, I love my cousin to death. I would do anything to her. And if that means playing nice with Mr. Meanie Auron, then fine. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

"Done," I said, then I turned towards the front of the group and started walking. And there he was, just as stick-straight and panties into a bunch as usual. I started speed walking until I reached just in front of him, and then I glanced to the side.

Sure, call me nosy, but I just had to know.

And just as I thought, Mr. Meanie had himself both a huge lump on his head and a slight smile on his face.

I knew that man had a sense of humor...


	2. Chimmy the Chimera

**I was waiting for a cross-town train   
****In the London underground when it struck me   
****That I've been waiting since birth to find a love   
****That would look and sound like a movie   
****So I changed my plans, I rented a camera and a van   
****And then I called you   
****"I need you to pretend that we are in love again,"   
****And you agreed to**

**-Clark Gable** by _The Postal Service_

I left Mr. Thinks-He's-Way-Too-Cool miles behind me as I blazed past the group, dust clouds covering my trail.

"Rikku, what's the rush, ya?" Wakka called out.

"I'm just scouting ahead," I called out behind me.

Now, I'm sure that everyone realizes that wasn't my real reason. The real rush was that after being so frusterated over my so called "lack of focus," I thought I should probably prove how wonderful of a guardian I really could be.

How, you might ask, was I to do that?

I was going to find the biggest fiend in existance, and give it a piece of my mind.

"Focus? I'll show you focus, buddy," I mumbled as I stomped along the trail to Guadosalam. The leaves from the trees made a beautiful canapy of leaves above me, and the shade seemed to cool down my boiling nerves. "Just one fiend... Just one to finally prove to them that I can do this."

Luckily for me, that fiend was waiting for me just a few yards ahead, where the path curved just enough to make me be out of sight of the rest of the party, licking it's lips on all of it's heads in anticipation for our little duel.

I turned that corner with as much speed and determination that my small frame would allow me. But then, I realized what lovely fiend I had to tangle with.

Of course, of all things to be sent to me, a Chimera had to be the one.

Now, I could tell you a huge, epic tale of how I totally whooped on this Chimera's head and never even got a scratch. I could flex my muscles and you could "oooh" and "ahhh" with appreciation. And maybe, finally, I could get the respect that I deserve.

Then again, maybe I don't deserve that respect, considering I froze faster than machina breaks. My feet stopped without barely any warning to my brain, and I pitched forward, nearly coliding into the lovely brown dirt that made up the path that I was walking on.

Wakka would say that I deserve it, for being a low down, dirty, no good, Al Bhed.

Personally, I just think it's bad timing on my part.

ANYWAY, I saw every one of my fifteen years of life flash in the many eyes of this dear little fiend, and I couldn't breathe.

It really did figure that the second I finally stopped focusing on Sir Auron the Almighty and started focusing on something really pertinant to my own existance, it had to be when there was no one else to realize that. Then again, maybe I should stop focusing on Sir Auron anyway, considering he's way older than me and has a lousy, stuffy sense of humor, and... well, the man is kind of cute, isn't he?

WHOA, no. Not even going to go there. At least not now, while my life is in danger. Maybe I could tackle that little disturbing thought with a counseler at a later point in my life, when this whole misrable experience is behind me.

But for now, I've got some fiend to fry.

My right hand started to twitch back to life, and moving _very slowly,_ I reached back and searched my pouches on my belt for some type of spiffy weapon, or maybe some ingredients that could make a big KABOOM and scare this bad boy away. Preferably a million of this ingredients, considering I'm not exactly the strongest girl around. My fingers brushed something, and breathing a sigh of relief, I yanked it out.

Three granades and a potion.

Wow. I should last about ten seconds.

The Chimira snorted a bit, laughing at my petty potion. It was probably thinking, "Mwa haha, little girl, you'll need more than that to protect you when I'm done with you."

So, deciding to buy for some more time, I did something that I wouldn't recommend for those of you at home. I started to have a bit of a conversation with it.

"Um... Hello there, Chimmy." The Chimira stepped closer to me. "Chimmy the Chimera, get it?" I took a few steps back, and felt myself run into something solid.

I turned, sighing with relief. "Thank goodness you guys are..."

It was a tree. Now I really knew I was in trouble.

I whipped my head back and saw four glowing pairs of eyes very close to my face. I scrambled for something, anything to say to let me live for a few seconds longer.

"You know, I know a perfectly good doctor to help you out with that little head problem you have..."

Wrong move, obviously.

All of the heads reared back, and a foot that I didn't even know existed came up and kicked me in my stomach. I doubled over, gasping for air. Then, one of it's heads came down, bit my shirt, and used it to catapult me twenty feet in the opposite direction.

And out of no where, the thunder spells came. I screamed bloody murder and covered my battered and bruised face with my hands, trying to curl myself into as small of a ball as possible. The world was spinning in fifteen different directions and every thing seemed to be hazy and green. I rolled over and tried to stand up, maybe crawl to safety, but that wasn't a good plan. I felt my stomach tumble, and decided that it would probably just be wise for me to lay down and shut up. Maybe catch a few lost minutes of shut eye. I started to close my eyes...

"Rikku!" Yuna screamed from far away. I smiled at the sound of her voice, but didn't move an inch. Sorry, but I felt rather cosy on the hard, packed in dirt. I was starting to feel myself pass out when I felt someone swiftly kneel down next to me and touch my face.

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't see anything but a dark blur. But, the blur smiled at my effort. "Don't worry, Rikku... I'll protect you," they said gruffly.

That sound was the last thing I remembered before I drifted away.


	3. Fuzzy Fog

_Me... I don't show much  
__It's far too hard to make you see in a moment  
__I still forget just how to be all you wanted  
__I couldn't ever love you more  
__I couldn't love you more  
__I couldn't love  
__You want me to cry and play my part  
__I want you to sigh and fall apart  
__We want this like everyone else..._

_-_**"End of the World" **by The Cure

I felt... odd.

I was moving, that much I knew. And I could hear the others talking, just small snitches of their conversations that didn't make a bit of sense to me. But I couldn't see, and I couldn't speak, and I couldn't comprehend a bit of what happened.

All I did was float in a fuzzy fog for what felt like ages.

"I don't have enough magic to heal her!" Yuna's voice reached faintly into my brain. She was panicing, I think. But why would she be panicing? I mean, other than the fact that she was doing a little suicide march to save us all, because even I would panic because of that. Even though, honestly, I'm doing the same thing. How many guardians come back after their summoners are gone?

Zilch. Zip. Zero.

Except for Mr. Wonderful, who happens to always be the exception.

"Focus, Yuna. What about potions? Who has potions?" Lulu said through the fog. Hell, I have a potion. But I only have one... who needs it? I tried to blink open my eyes, to volunteer my bit of information, but I couldn't feel them enough to open them. I have to admit, that was the _weirdest_ sensation in the entire world, just to be completely disconnected from my entire body, to float in this fuzzy, comfy bit of space, not really ready to be connected again, but still looking forward to it a bit. I guess who ever needs that potion will just have to wait.

I'm too busy floatin', baby.

"How far are we from Guadosalam?" the voices poked through again, and that one sounded like... Hmmm. He sounded like Tidus, but how often does Tidus say anything that makes any sense? Just about never, people. Just about never. But he's my buddy, so that's okay. I honestly don't say much that makes sense either, do I? Wait... do I? Hmmm. Maybe I should tackle that little question when I reconnect with the real world.

I concentrated, _focused,_ really, on bringing myself back out of the clouds. Sure, where I was happened to be cosy, happy, and everything good, but I had this odd feeling that Yuna and the rest of my people needed me. Which was odd, because when have I ever been even remotely useful on this trip? Other than, you know, stealing stuff, which happens to be my little cup of tea.

The first thing I felt was this odd rumble on my side, and a deep voice saying, much more clearly than everyone else, so close to me that I could feel it from the top of my head to the tips of my dangling toes, the _very_ same voice who claimed he would protect me, "I'm going."

Going where? Can I come?

Then again, maybe I was already going, because I felt the cool breeze dance across the round part of my cheeks and the tip of my nose, and it burned a bit, which I didn't really understand. So, trying to block myself from that odd tingle that was hurting more by the minute, I twisted a bit and tried to shove myself into something near me, which was snuggly and heavy and soft and made my cheeks hurt even more. I felt myself moan a bit, and I turned again, which made my whole head, face, neck, ribs, arms, legs, and even my little toes turn to absolute fire.

Oh, why the hell did I decide to stop floating?

The... well, the thing that I was leaned up against rumbled back to life, and I heard the voice again. "Shh, Rikku. We're almost there."

And I tried, I swear I did, even though I didn't really think that I made a sound. But I didn't want to move, because I didn't want to start burning again.

A creepy thought came into my head though. Maybe Wakka was a bit right about that whole "Al Bhed's will burn in Hell and never get to the Farplane and turn into fire breathing, lightning striking fiends," bit he always seems to be screaming about in his sleep. Thank goodness he has no idea that I'm Al Bhed. But maybe, he had a good point.

Maybe I was in Hell, waiting to be turned into a creepy, lightning striking fiend.

Or maybe not, because the second I thought that, I smelled _it_. _It_ wasn't flames and gas and everything that can be crispy, like I thought I would smell. _It _simply smelled like the forest, the desert after a summer rain, love and sake and cinnamon cookies. _It_ was a smell that brought a flush into my cheeks and a warm, fuzzy, feeling shooting up my toes, straight into my heart.

And I knew, simply and with more faith than I've ever believed in anything before, that this person, who smelled like _it_, who's voice was deep and rumbled my whole body, and who was apparently running like the blazes towards Guadosalam, was meant for me to snuggle with and spin in circles during rainstorms with and make cinnamon cookies with every single day for the rest of my life.

The thought made me smile. The thought made me want to jump up and down, but when I started to move, the pain was so sharp, so _real_, that I cried out, wishing that if I screamed, maybe, just maybe, everything would freeze and stop and let my body go back to that numbness once again. Maybe. Come on, please?

"Rikku? Rikku, hold on. We're almost there," the voice rumbled again. I wanted to nod, smile, and agree with whatever he said, but I couldn't even twitch without that piercing sensation coming back. But if he could read my mind, he would probably smile, because I finally was realizing, "Ohhh... _that's_ why they needed the potion."

"We need a room, now, please."

"Sir, I'm sorry, we don't..."

"NOW!"

"Yes, yes sir, right this way."

I felt my body sinking, tingling with a pain that only pins and needles could describe. My head hit something soft, my body was laying on something rather fluffy, and my mind was yelling, ranting and raving, swearing up a storm. I could feel my face start to contort, and my mouth opened to let out a shriek, but I couldn't get enough air out. And I breathed and I breathed and I breathed, trying to bring myself back, trying to get a hold of myself, but I couldn't.

So, I screamed. Screamed bloody murder, screamed until I couldn't breathe, and I was choking on my breath, and so much air gooshed out of my lungs that I thought I was going to pass out, or throw up, or _something_.

But he was there, again. He rushed down, his rough hands combing my hair out of my face, down my arms, encouraging me, taking care of me. "That's right, Rikku, scream it out. They're coming, and you're going to be just fine, just fine. I'll protect you, just scream it out for me."

His voice calmed me down. Finally, the screams turned to whimpers, tears rolled down my face, tracing beautiful highways down my cheekbones, and I stayed still, gulping air like there was no tomorrow. My lungs and chest burned, but I knew for a fact that I couldn't get away with not breathing and still be able to say hello to everyone the next morning.

But finally, without ever figuring out who's voice was lulling me, without ever realising who really WAS the man that made me finally smell _it_, and without ever finding out who ran like the blazes to Guadosalam for me, I drifted back into that fuzzy, comfy bit of space.

**AN: Yeah, I am WAY sorry for taking forever to update this little beaut of a story that I've got going on here, but my computer decided to go and explode on me, so at the moment, I can only update when I get my hands on a school computer or go to the library. I know, it's disappointing, but I'm going to try to update as much as possible, okay?**


	4. It

_I'm hanging onto every word you say  
__And even if you don't want to speak tonight  
__That's alright, alright with me  
__'Cause I want nothing more than to sit  
__Outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing  
__Is where I want to be_

_-_**"Breathing"** by Lifehouse

_"I've got what we need."_

_"Finally! Bring it here, please! We need to hurry. She's still unconscious."_

_"Okay, Yuna, with these potions and what magic you have left, we should be able to cure her."_

_"Here, I'll pour the potions onto the wounds on her arms and legs."_

_"What do you suggest we do about her face?"_

_"Yuna should cure it with her magic, ya?"_

_"Good point, Wakka. Okay... everyone ready?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Alright then, let's start."_

"Hello?" I whispered, my voice raspy from not speaking for ages. I blinked open my eyes, but I still couldn't see anything in the dark room, except for the shadow of a person sitting on a chair near my bed. I tried to move my hands, or my big toe, or _something_, but everything still felt sore. At least my whole body wasn't on fire anymore. "Yuna? Lulu? Who's there?"

I saw the shadow shift a bit, but whoever it was stayed quiet. Maybe they were sleeping, but regardless, I kept trying names, trying to get their attention. "Wakka? Tidus, is that you?" I whispered a bit more loudly.

It grunted. Grunted so loudly, in fact, that I just about jumped out of my skin. "Okay, maybe you're not Tidus. Well, Auron wouldn't be in here, so..."

"Rikku, do you EVER shut up?" the voice exclaimed from the darkness.

Oh shit. Of course, it just had to be... "Sir Auron! Is that you?"

"No, it's the Chocobo Fairy," he said dryly.

I decided to ignore that smart aleck comment that he made, and tried to bring the focus back to more pressing matters. "Where's Yunie? What happened? Is everyone okay?"

I heard a click and a soft light suddenly filled the room. Auron was surprisingly without his coat, just lounging in the chair with what seemed to be black pajamas. But, when has Sir Auron the Almighty ever worn pajamas? His katana was leaning against the armrest, and his sock-covered toes were up on the side of the bed. His face was expressionless, but that was the norm, so I wasn't very surprised. "You honestly don't remember?"

"I remember Chimmy and cinnamon cookies and burning in Hell and lightning... lots and lots of lightning. And I was stuck in a fuzzy fog for a long time, and someone needed a potion, which I had one in my pouch, but I couldn't get out of the fog to help them. And..."

"_What happened_ was that you decided to run ahead of the group, instead of staying behind to protect your summoner. Then, because of that, you ran into a Chimera without the rest of us, took so much damage that Yuna did not have enough magic to heal you, and caused us to rush you here."

"Ohh..." I nodded.

"Where "Chimmy", "cinnamon cookies", and "burning in Hell" fit into all of that, I will never know," he grumbled.

"But, where's Yunie? Is she alright?"

"Yuna is resting in her room, after sitting awake next to you for more than half of the night. When she finally dozed off, the rest of the group was asleep, so I was told to watch you and alert her of any changes. Other than being tired, she is fine, as are the rest of us."

My mind was spinning with all of the new information. "But... someone smelled like love and sake and cinnamon cookies..."

"That must have been a fabrication in your mind while you were unconscious."

"But, whoever it was said that they would protect me!"

His eye grew pitch-black as he stared at me, searching my face for some sort of answer that I obviously could not give. "Are you sure of that?"

"Of course! I just don't know who it was! But they smelled like _it_, ran like the blazes to get me here, and told me that they would protect me..."

"And _it_ is love, sake, and cinnamon cookies?"

"YES!" I yelled, sitting up quickly from the bed. Of course, that was a bad move, because instantly my face, arms, and everything else on me started burning again. With a whimper, I laid back down.

Compassion seemed to flash in his eye for a moment, before the expression left his face again. "Rikku, try not to move. The wounds cannot heal if you're jumping around."

I laid stick straight, staring up at the ceiling, refusing to look at his face. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"About?" he asked nonchalantly.

"The person who saved me..." I mumbled.

"It depends. What else does _it_ smell like?"

"The forest on a summer night... The desert after a perfect rainstorm..."

"And your savior smelled like all of these things at once? It hardly seems realistic."

My heart seemed to twist up in my chest. Of course he wouldn't think it was realistic. Then again, this is Mr. Cynic, Mr. I-Don't-Believe-In-Anything, Mr. Thinks-He's-Way-Smarter-Than-Me. He would never believe that someone good, beautiful, WONDERFUL, showed up to take care of me.

"Fine," I whispered, unwanted tears filling up my eyes."Don't believe me, I don't care. But if you don't believe me, youdon't need to stay in here. I'm perfectly fine by myself!" I stared at the ceiling, willing myself to fall asleep, or maybe just disappear off of the face of Spira.

As the tears threatened to spill over, I tried to make myself calm down. Breathe-one-two-three. Breathe-one-two-three. In-one-two-three. Out-one-two-three. In-one-two-three. Out-one-two-three. Breathe, Rikku. Just breathe.

Auron was silent, but I could still feel him watching me. I felt incredibly embarrassed, considering I really needed to prove myself to him, it seemed, but I was making a fool out of myself. Then, I felt more than saw him shift out of his seat.

I closed my eyes as tight as I could, hoping that he would just leave.

Then again, I'm never that lucky, am I?

There was a sudden weight at the edge of the bed, and I rolled slightly towards it, skin burning the whole way. I cracked open my eyes a bit..

"Amazing," he said quietly, the back of his dark shirt facing me, his face staring off at the wall about two feet away. There was nothing really that interesting about that wall, I'm sure, but he never moved his gaze from it.

"What is?" I said, my voice cracking again.

He didn't respond for a moment, blinked, then shook his head. "Nothing is, Rikku." Then he suddenly stood up, turned back to face me, and said, "Go to sleep. You need to be up early tomorrow morning, unless you wish to be left behind. Yuna needs to continue on her pilgrimage, regardless of your medical state."

"Where are we?" I asked quietly.

"Just outside of Guadosalam. And we've spent far too much time here, catering to _your_ needs. It's time to move on." His dark eye stared down at me, daring me to contridict him.

But, of course, I didn't have a response quick enough for him. He turned away, slipped into his coat, and walked out of the door, quietly shutting it behind him. And I was left behind, tears starting to trickle down my cheeks, as I wished I had never agreed to come along on this stupid trip.

And as I breathed-one-two-three over and over again, I finally realized something that made my dreary day look up a bit.

The pillow and the blanket next to me smelled like_ it_.


	5. Technogroovy Swirl

_He drowns in his dreams  
__An exquisite extreme, I know  
__He's as damned as he seems  
__And more heaven than a heart could hold  
__If I tried to save him  
__My whole world would cave in  
__It just ain't right, Lord it just ain't right  
__Oh and I don't know  
__I don't know what he's after  
__But he's so beautiful  
__He's such a beautiful disaster_

_-_**"Beautiful Disaster" **by Kelly Clarkson

The blanket was itchy.

Now, I know that it's might ridiculous for me to be complaining about this, considering I was lucky to even be sleeping in a bed, let alone a cozy bed inside a hotel where I was allowed to recooperate after being beat to a pulp by dear ol' Chimmy. Actually, I was lucky to even be alive, for that matter. But, I was really more happy about sleeping in a real, honest-to-goodness bed, with a fluffy, feather pillow and quite a few blankets to snuggle in.

If ONLY the blanket would stop being itchy.

Creaking open my eyes, I glanced at the window, which barely any light was coming through. "Ah, gotta love being the first one up in the morning," I yawned. I sat up, my bones mumbling little "ouchies" in pain, shook my extremely greasy and yucky, blonde hair out of my eyes, and looked at the mirror that was located across the room from me.

Whoa. Obviously, last night was _not_ a good night for me.

My hair was sticking up on top of my head, little bits of dirt and leaves caught in it, making me realize that maybe a bath would be a good idea this morning. My arms and legs were wrapped up in some bright pink bandages, but from what little skin was poking through, I saw a mighty scratched up bit of Rikku poking out. My bright orange shirt and green shorts were missing, replaced with some ugly grey pajamas, which were _so_ not my color.

And my eyes... Oh goodness, my eyes...

Not being a show off or anything here, my eyes are usually something to brag about. Guys all over Spira have gone ga-ga over what a perfect shade of emerald green they are, and the spirals (which are the sign of an Al Bhed, by the way) are usually just prominant enough to send someone dizzily into me. But, for some reason beyond me, my eyes somehow were transformed into a shade of green that can only be described as the color of the goobers that come out of your nose, and the spirals were so bold that you couldn't miss my Al Bhed heritage if you were blind and fifty billion miles away.

Which happened to be a problem, considering I happened to be hanging out with a group of people who hated Al Bheds. Well, not all of them. I mean, Yunie doesn't hate anyone. Tidus, well, he's never really _got_ the whole "Al Bhed's are bad, bad people who should rot because they don't believe in Yevon," which is totally untrue by the way, because we aren't bad at all, we're just not brainwashed into bowing down to something that we can't even _see._ Lulu and Kimahri seem to have their minds on more important things than just randomly hating a whole group of cool people like my family. Actually, Wakka seems to be the only person who whole-heartedly hates Al Bhed's with a vengance, which isn't a good thing, considering he still doesn't... well...

He doesn't exactly know I'm an Al Bhed yet. Which as long as I keep my eyes hidden around him, he'll never need to know, right? RIGHT?

But, then there's Sir Auron the Almighty to consider. He's never completely came out in said, "I hate you Al Bhed people!", which is normal for him, because he doesn't ever really seem to say anything unless it's something like "Rikku, you're wasting our time," or "Rikku, you need to focus," or "Rikku, YOU SUCK!" Wait, he never said that. But he probably has always wanted, deep down, to say that to me in the few days that he's had to deal with me.

But that also doesn't explain why he was sitting up, watching me last night. Kind of creepy, in a way, but also kind of sweet.

Whoa, hey. Look, even though he was sitting up watching me, it wasn't like he was doing it for my sake or anything. He just was sitting there so that when I woke up, he could shoot down my hopes and dreams of skipping off into the sunset, hand-in-hand, with my sweet, good, beautiful man who smells wonderfully like _it_.

A sound shook me out of my super cool daydreams and scared the bajeezus out of me. It was a grunt, cough, and a hacky breath all at the same time. Peering over my shoulder, I nearly had a heart attack.

There, dreaming away in the uncomfortable looking wooden chair next to my bed, was Mr. Wonderful himself. His dark hair was all over my covers, his head was leaning on my other pillow, and oh goodness, the man was drooling.

Yeah, the creepy meter just went from a 2 to about an 8.

Looking back at the situation, I realize that I should have just grabbed my clothes and my toothbrush, jumped off of my bed, and tiptoed across the ugly carpet to go get ready in Yunie or Lulu's room. But, then again, that is what most people would consider the rational, more intellegent thing to do. And although I know that I just so happen to be one of the smartest people I know, I have never, _ever_ been known to do anything remotely close to rational.

"Psst," I whispered.

Woo hoo, no response.

"PSST!" I tried again.

He didn't even twitch. Surprising really, considering he's supposedly the one that stays up most nights on watch and is a world famous insomniac. Must be something about that itchy blanket that really got his sleepy juices flowing.

"Sir Auron," I whispered, reaching my hand across the blanket to touch his shoulder.

That, of all the things that I've ever done in my life, was one of the most obvious wrong moves _ever_. I mean, I can understand that kicking a pebble at Mr. Serious was a wrong move. I can also understand that telling Chimmy the Chimera that he needed to see a doctor was also a wrong move. But let's face it, laying one finger on someone who carries a sword bigger than I am on a _daily_ basis is so above and beyond the call of duty of a wrong move. I'm a smart girl, really. My common sense must have just slipped my mind.

"AHHHHHH!" I screamed as the sharp, metal, HUGE katana came swinging at me, before he even picked up his head to look. I laid flat against the bed, watching as it nearly clipped off my lovely, dainty nose, and screamed bloody murder. "Sir Auron, please, no!! It was just me, I swear! EEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The katana swung again, this time vertically, and I swear to everything good and holy, my whole entire fifteen years of life passed before my goober green eyes.

The Legendary Guardian was going to cut me in half. Great.

I closed my eyes and sucked in my breath, tears spilling down my cheeks, shaking and waiting for the feeling of that cold, horrible metal that was going to slice me up starting right in the middle of my blonde eyebrows.

But it never came.

"Rikku," he breathed out, gasping for air, slumped against that chair that was practically made out of toothpicks. "What the HELL is going on?"

"Holy _canoli,_" I choked out. "I think you just gave me a heart attack."

My eyes were still squeezed tightly together, trying to hide those damn spirals that gave my heritage away, hoping against hope that he never noticed them before. Maybe, just maybe, today would be my lucky day, and I could just get away with wearing some goggles or stealing his sunglasses or something, that way no one would notice that my eyes were the color of goobers and had some technogroovy swirl going on in the middle of them. Taking a bit of an extra precaution, I slapped my hands over my eyes and peeked through my fingers at him.

Bad move. "Rikku, why are you hiding your eyes?"

"Uh... no reason. I'm just feeling kinda squinty today. Haven't you ever felt that way? I mean, I bet you have, considering that mighty huge..." my mouth clamped together before I mention that four letter word that started with an S, ended with an R, and had CA in the middle. I sat up a bit, my hands still covering my eyes, praying to anything but Yevon that I could just get out of that room and be on my merry way without him noticing. "Hey, wait a minute! What are you doing in my room?" I said, my fabulous diversion skills coming into play.

"I... That's not important. Show me your face."

"No. I have dirt, blood, and some sca... some scabs on my face from my fabulous run in with Chimmy."

"Show me your face, Rikku."

I closed my eyes as tight as I possibly could, and turned my face towards, my hands settling somewhere down near my lap. I could feel more than hear him chuckle, but there was no way in shanaynay that he was going to take one look at my eyes in their weirded out state.

"Open your eyes."

"No. No, no no no no. You can't make me."

"I can if you want to continue on this pilgrimage. Now open your eyes!"

Great. There was no way that I could have disobeyed him at that point. I had to protect Yunie, and even though I had this odd feeling that he was going to throw me out of the pilgrimage _anyway_ when he figured out that I was Al Bhed, so what exactly did I have to lose. I creaked open one eye, and looked straight across into his dark, almost bottomless gaze.

His breath sucked into his lungs in one big GOOSH, and I nearly fell over all over again. "N..no good?" I mumbled, opening both of my eyes to plead with him to please, please oh please, just let me stay and protect my cousin. Please. Come on, please oh please.

But it was odd, when I looked at him, it was like waking up all over again. I mean, I heard bells and my very favorite songs on the radio that I spin to every morning when I get ready, I felt warm and prickly, I saw stars and rainbows and chocobos, and I smelled something that smelled suspiciously like _it._ But it couldn't have been _it_, considering he didn't even believe me when I told him about smelling it. And I couldn't have felt so many things, because that would mean that I was growing way too fond of someone who was by no means right for me, and was horribly mean to me constantly, and who couldn't possibly ever know of or love cinnamon cookies.

He nodded, almost without thinking, it seemed, and placed something in my hand. "Very well. Get ready quickly, I'll go wake the others," he grunted. Then, almost without a sound, which was AMAZING for someone built so much bigger than me, he slid out of the room again.

I sat, dazed and confused for a good five minutes, staring at the door before I even _thought_ about looking at the thing that he placed in my hand. Which I wondered about before I even looked, because honestly, what would he be doing placing something in my hand in the first place? Maybe it was something bad... or maybe it was something fabulous... or _maybe_ it was just something I should have stolen in the first place! When I finally mustered up enough courage, I looked down and opened my fingers.

"Why that ol' devil," I mumbled, smiling. Resting daintly in my fingers were his sunglasses.

**AN: New computer YAAAAAAAY This chapter took me FOREVER to write, for some odd reason. And I didn't even expect it to be a variation of their meeting, but here it is. Hopefully you enjoyed it. I'll make sure to update some more soon.**


	6. Super NinjaAgent

_I never really wanted you to see  
__The screwed up side of me that I keep  
__Locked up inside of me so deep  
__It always seems to get to me  
__I never really wanted you to go  
__So many things you should have known  
__I guess for me there's just no hope  
__I never meant to be so cold_

_-_**"Cold"** by Crossfade

"RIKKU! What are you doing out of bed?" Yuna called out, running across the front room of the inn towards me. "Does anything hurt? Do you need new bandages?" Holy cow. My normally calm cousin, who rarely talks above a whisper, raising her voice? It was a bit scary.

I gently pried her off of me, and took a quick look at how she was coping. As usual, Yunie looked completely flawless, from her carmel colored hair, her summoners robes that were in _perfect_ condition (How _does_ she do that? She should be advertising for laundry detergent), down to her boot covered toes. My favorite part of her outfit, of course, was her unattached sleeves that had wings of material that faded from white to pink, almost as big as she was. Her eyes, bi-colored blue and green, were concerned though. "Yunie, I'm okay. Don't worry about me so much."

She glanced up and down me, gently holding onto my bandage covered arms. Then, of course, she spotted the sunglasses. "What are you doing wearing _those_?" she whispered. "I thought you were going to behave!"

I smiled slyly at her, then glanced up at the rest of the party, who were all staring at me with the same, stunned expression. Realizing that I couldn't really explain what was going on without being killed by some Al Bhed hating meanie, I said loudly, "You know, maybe if you just cast a bit of a Cura, I should be good to go." Then I whispered, "Yunie, I'll tell you later."

Looking past her face, I could see Auron discreetly buying another pair of sunglasses from the innkeeper. Same black frames, same dark lenses, same everything. Aha, he was covering up his tracks, because _obviously,_ if he was wearing the same exact pair of sunglasses as I was, I couldn't possibly be wearing his. Smart guy. Makes me wonder about what else he's covering up.

Yuna smiled, then nodded her head. Holding her hands over my face, she chanted out the words to the ancient spell, curing my wounds, covering me from the top of my messy ponytail to the bottom of my boots with a soft, warm light. With a snap, she was done, and I felt _much_ better. "Thanks Yunie, I owe you one."

"Your welcome," she said, turning to look at the rest of the group. "Are we ready?"

"Whenever you are, Yuna," Lulu said, speaking for all of us.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "Come on, let's go! How far away are we from Guadosalam?"

"Close enough," Auron grunted, pushing his way past Tidus and Wakka to reach the door, his brand-spankin-new sunglasses firmly in place. Unfortunatly for him, the door just so happened to be stuck. So, he jammed his shoulder into it, hit his head on the small bell above the door, and let out _quite_ the little string of profanities.

Great. The last thing we need is for him to be pissed off.

Yuna started to say something, but it didn't even reach his ears, considering the gung-ho expression on his face. He stepped back again, adjusted his shoulder to the perfect postion, and rammed the door. Of course, this time, there just had to be a slight problem. A loud cracking sound made the rest of us, the poor, innocent bystanders, gasp in shock.

Instantly, _all hell broke loose_.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" the innkeeper, jumping over the counter, started screaming. "That door is worth _500 gil._"

My mind started scrambling. Last I checked, we only had 238 gil, give or take a few stolen pieces located neatly in my pouches. There was _no way_ that we could pay that back! Maybe we could wash dishes, or make dinner, or clean the rooms of the inn... anything to make money. On the bright side though, the little setback was something that had the potential to halt the pilgrimage for at least a few days.

_And_, now I had something to harp on Aurie Warie Poo about.

"Sir, I am so sorry... I'm sure we'll find some way to pay for it! Do we have the gil?" Yuna said smoothly, giving the rest of us pleading looks. We all started rifling through our pockets and pouches, throwing our gil in a pile in the middle of the floor.

After a quick count, Lulu piped up, giving Auron the most frightening evil eye that I have _ever_ seen. "Well, we used to have 238 gil, but considering _someone_ needed new sunglasses, we now only have 78 gil."

I could feel my face heat up at that little comment, and I glanced at my toes, keeping my eyes away from the looks that I was sure the rest of the group was giving me. I dug a bit more in my pockets, searching for something, _anything_ of value that I had pilfered in my few days of hanging out with this groovy bunch. Nothing. Absolutly nothing, well, except for maybe some pocket lint, but you couldn't sell that and expect _428_ gil. It just doesn't work like that.

Then, genius girl that I am, I came up with a _brilliant_ plan. By far, the most intellegent thing that I've ever thought of in my whole life. I mean, this plan, so full of smart goodness, could singlehandedly take over the world.

"RUN!" I screamed, grabbing Yuna by the wrist and booking it out of there.

Without any hesitation what-so-ever, Tidus grabbed Wakka, Lulu grabbed Kimarhi, and we all ran like the wind, hair flailing behind our backs, dust billowing in our trail.

That was, until we realized that we forgot someone.

"SHOOT!" I screamed out, coming to a quick stop, in a small clearing. "We forgot Sir Auron!"

"Leave him! He's the one that got us into this mess in the first place," Lulu said bitterly.

"No, no, we can't do that," Yuna sighed. "Let's go back, we can find a way to pay for it, I'm sure."

"NO," I yelled, shocking the rest of them into silence. "Here's the dealio, you guys. You go ahead, and just book it towards Guadosalam, okay? I'll go back, and do what I do best."

"And what is that, Rikku?" Lulu asked.

"I steal things for a living, Lulu. I can definatly pilfer Sir Auron, and we'll catch up to you as soon as possible. Good plan?"

"Sounds good to me," Tidus instantly agreed. ROCK ON, my good buddy! I winked at him and smiled, and he winked back. He knew I was leaving my cousin in his hands, and I trusted that kid profusely, even though I probably shouldn't have, considered he's pretty much my long lost brother, personality wise.

Kimarhi nodded at me, Wakka and Lulu looked at each other, and then at Yuna, "If it's alright with Yuna, I guess we can do that," Wakka said.

"Fine with me," Yuna said cheerfully.

"Rock on!" I exclaimed. "We'll catch up to you guys in a few hours. If you make it to Guadosalam, check into the inn there, or hang out somewhere easy to find. Okay?"

"Okay!" everyone exclaimed, and I took off running back the way we came.

"Run like the wind, Rikku!" Yuna yelled to me, and I waved my hand to her, running like the blazes back to the inn where Mr. Let's-Get-Into-Ten-Tons-Of-Trouble was being kept hostage.

Coming up to the inn, I slowed down a bit, and took a moment to go over my plan. Now, I know everyone is shocked by the fact that I, Rikku, the nonrational one, has a plan, but we all have to do something remotely intellegent once in our lives. Walking into that inn without a plan of action was like walking straight into Chimmy's gaping jaws.

Which, of course, I pretty much did that too, but I'm much smarter now.

I slid around the back of the inn, back to the wall, doing the best secret agent, super ninga stance that I have ever done. I mean, this one totally beat out the usual "Oh, HEEYA, I'm a super ninga-agent" that I usually do during a battle, which by the way, is way cool, in case anyone was wondering.

There was a window above my head, and I stood up on my tippy toes a bit, peering into the window.

There, facing me with a livid expression on his face, was the Legendary Guardian Sir Auron, washing out the pots and pans from dinner the night before.

Oh, the blackmail from this one is going to be _real_ good.

He spotted me, and he opened his mouth to start talking, but I put my finger to my lips and hissed, instantly shutting him up. "Is there a door closeby?" I mouthed to him. He shook his head slightly, and I smiled, realising what we had to do.

I slid open the window as quietly as I could, reached my hands in, grabbed him by the head, and flung that son-of-a-gun right out of the window.

He hit the ground with a huge thud, and we both froze, listening for any sound. Nothing. Good. I, the super ninja-agent, then motioned for him to crawl past the window, which he did with quite some protest, but all it took to stop his whining was a headjerk towards the kitchen, and a smile at the pink plaid dishtowel he still held in his hand.

With little difficulty, we slid past all of the entrances of the inn, and made it to some bushes near by. He sat on the ground, breathing hard for a moment, and then looked at me in a way that I've never seen him look before. It was almost with... respect?

"Thank you," he said simply.

I only smiled, then grabbed his hand and started running towards Guadosalam, before the evil innkeeper realized that his hostage was gone.

**AN: Hey guys, hope you enjoy this one. It certainly did take forever to write!**


	7. Wasting Time

_Did you see the sky, I think it means that we've been lost  
__Maybe one less time is all we need  
__I can't really help it if my tounge's all tied in knots  
__Jumping off a bridge, it's the farthest that I've ever been  
__Anywhere you go, I'll follow you down  
__Anyplace, but those I know by heart  
__Anywhere you go, I'll follow you down  
__I'll follow you down, but not that far_

_-_**"Follow You Down"** by Gin Blossoms

"So, uh, what kind of music do you listen to?" I asked, pushing my voice out into the calm silence that inveloped the wooded area around us.

Auron grunted, and stared me down with his eye. "Music?"

We were walking slowly down the path, finally getting away from the evil innkeeper, even though I did hear him screaming,"MY DOOR! Oh, my precious DOOR! I'll get you Sir Auron!!!" in the distance. Other than the bit of thanks that I recieved for saving him, Mr. Wonderful hadn't said barely a word to me.

Well, that was going to have to stop. I don't risk my cute little hiney for just anyone, you know.

But, on the bright side, or maybe not on the bright side... Auron hadn't let go of my hand since I had single-handedly saved him from a lifetime of hairnets and pink plaid dishtowels. It was a spiffy, awesome, cool thing because my hand was warm and snuggly in his, and our fingers intertwined in the perfect order, and neither one of us was completely uncomfortable, as we all know sometimes hand-holding results in. On the not-so-cool, spiffy, awesome side, it made me confused about EVERYTHING. 'Cause, let's face it, rubbing fingers with the Legendary Guardian meant that I wasn't thinking about my rockin' caretaker, the man who smelled like _it,_ and who I know wouldn't be mean to me one little smidgen of my life.

But, at the moment, I was just going to pretend that Auron was that guy.

"Yeah, music. You know, that cool noise that you sing and shake your butt to? What kind do you like?"

He looked to the sky in a way that spoke volumes, as if he was silently pleading for someone to save him from this little joywalk that we were going on. "I don't have time to "shake my butt" to pointless noise, Rikku."

Man, wasn't he just a little ray of sunshine.

"Oh yes, you do. Everyone has time to dance! I just think you haven't heard the right song to do it to," I said, my other hand waving around in the air, becoming more enthusiastic with every word that was coming out of my mouth.

"Dance?" he said, surprised. "I was a warrior monk..."

"Yeah, and Legendary Guardian to Lord Braska, and a million other things. Stop trying to change the subject."

"I don't dance, Rikku, or listen to music," he said, with a tone in his voice that was clearly a road block to any further discussion. Ah, but I don't pay attention to road blocks, obviously, or else I wouldn't have started the conversation in the first place.

Suddenly, though, I had a realisation.

"You don't know _how_ to dance, do you?" I whispered in shock.

"What's there to know?" he grunted, not looking at me. "You move around, pretend to be paying attention to a beat, just so you can rub on someone in a mob of people. It doesn't even remotely interest me."

The truth was dawning on me more and more with every word that he spoke. I stopped slowly and turned, looked up at him over his, wait no, MY sunglasses, and he turned and looked down at me over his sunglasses, and I smiled. "The only reason why you pretend you're not interested is because you don't know how, Auron. And _that_ is exactly why I'm going to teach you!"

"No," he said gruffly, shaking his head. "Absolutly not. I already told you I have no intrest in this nonsense. At the moment, we must go find Yuna and continue on. Stop wasting time."

"Yuna and the rest of them are waiting for us in Guadosalam, and if you _really_ want to get into someone wasting time, I distinctly remember having to go after _someone_ because he decided not to run at the appropriate time, therefore wasting all of our time. It will only take a minute," I giggled, grabbing his other hand, and starting to move his arms in the right ways, starting to spin slightly, "and then you'll be done, and I'm sure you'll want to dance every other chance that you can get."

Mr. I-Hate-Doing-Anything-Fun had a disgusted look on his face, and snatched his hands away from me. "No."

Great, now both of my hands were cold. I grabbed both of his hands again, stared him down, and said sternly, "You're learning."

He snatched his hands back, "No."

"Yes," I said, giving him the most evil of the evil eyes that I have ever given in my whole life. "The sooner you learn, the sooner we can catch up with Yuna. You're really just wasting all of her time, you know," I said, gleefully realising that I had him SO good with that statement.

He sighed, raised his hand to his forehead, and looked to the puffy clouds in the sky. "If I do this, will you leave me alone about it for the rest of this pilgrimage?"

"Of course, but you know, I won't have to leave you alone, because you'll be pestering _me_ for some dances, and I'll be like "Oh, pooh on you, you don't like to dance," and you'll be like..."

"Get _on with it_," he said, exasperated, holding both of his hands limply in front of him, as if he was getting handcuffed by the Yevonite police.

"Well, alright then, hold your horses buddy, you don't have to be so enthusiastic," I said, giggling gleefullly, taking hold of one of his hands and placing it around my waist. "Okay, so you put this hand here, and you hold this hand, and here we go!" I smirked, starting to spin us around.

"Oh, someone help me please," he mumbled.

"Hush, you know you love it," I grinned. "Now, let's count out the beat, okay! One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two..."

"Look, Rikku," he interrupted, "If you're going to make me dance, please, spare me from the counting."

"Okay, then why don't I sing?" I asked as he groaned outloud, my feet still propelling us in a circle down the dirt path. "Ohhhhhhhh, ONCE upON a SUNNY MOOOOOOOOOOORNING, there was a PURPLE..."

"No, please, stop the singing, _please_ stop the singing," he mumbled, shutting his eyes, letting himself being spun around in a dizzy twirl, clutching onto my waist and hand for dear life.

"Okay, how about this then?" I asked, ready to be serious. "Once upon a sunny..."

"How about some silence? That sounds great about now."

My feelings were kind of hurt, honestly, considering he didn't want to dance, he didn't want to sing, and he didn't even want ME to sing! Truthfully, I wasn't singing my best at that moment, because most of all, I really just wanted to annoy him at this point, considering I knew that I couldn't get in trouble because I saved his little tooshie from the evil innkeeper, and he was in my debt.

But, even though he wasn't that perfect man, and even though I knew he would never be the one for me, he was making it mighty hard for me to pretend.

"Fine," I mumbled as I stopped spinning, dropped his hand, and started walking away from him. "I'm not going to make you do anything that you don't want to do. If you don't want to dance, and you don't want to sing, and you don't want to hear ME sing, then fine. We can just walk in silence, for all I care."

"Rikku, wait," he said, walking quickly to catch up with me, as I tried to speed away. "Don't walk away from me. The last thing we need is for me to save you again from some fiend that you just _decide_ to talk to."

_He_ saved _me_? HA! Mr. Wonderful didn't have anything to do with that situation... did he? "HA! Hahahaha! You saved me? You make me laugh, _Sir_ Auron. You didn't have anything to do with the situation with Chimmy."

He sighed in exasperation. "Why must you refer to the fiend as Chimmy?"

"Because that is his name," I said in a huff.

"What if it was a girl?" he asked, mouth starting to turn up in a grin.

"Chimmy is a great name for a girl!" I yelled, starting to get MIGHTY annoyed with him. "And why do you care anyway?"

"So I can figure out a way to call "him" back and have "him" eat you for good this time," he said calmly.

I stopped, shocked. "You... you wouldn't."

He turned back towards me, smiling a bit. "No, I probably wouldn't. Yuna would kill me."

"Oh, and of course that's the only reason why you wouldn't. It figures," I grumbled, brushing past him, avoiding the smile in his eye.

But, to my surprise, when I brushed past him, he grabbed my hand again. I looked back, questioning him, still mighty annoyed with him, but maybe just a _teensy_ bit curious. "What?"

"If you don't change your attitude, I'm going to feed you to Chimmy. And I'm serious this time," he said, his eye _definately_ not matching the tone of his voice. He was definatly trying to be serious, I'm sure, but there was so much laughter and expression in his eye that it lit up his entire face. It was an amazing transformation, really.

"Fine," I sighed. "But can we get going? I'm hungry!"

He burst out laughing, and it was the craziest, most fun, lovely, beautiful thing that I have ever seen. "As you wish, Lady Rikku," he said, starting us off walking again.

**AN: Wow, I'm so surprised on the amount of reviews that I've gotten so far! Thanks alot all of you reviewers, I read each and every one with love and laughter, believe me. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and a special thanks to Carrie, who I get to bounce ideas off of and amuse with this story on almost a daily basis. Hope you guys have a good weekend!**


	8. Herman the Smelly Guado

_Now your world is way too fast,  
__Nothing's real and nothing lasts,  
__And I'm aware  
__I'm in love and you don't care  
__Turn your anger into lust,  
__I'm still here but you don't trust at all  
__And I'll be waiting  
__Love and sex and loneliness  
__Take what's yours and leave the rest  
__So I'll survive  
__God, it's good to be alive_

_-_**"Big Machine" **by Goo Goo Dolls

"Hi!" I said breathlessly to the guard before the gate to Guadosalam. "Have you seen Lady Yuna's party pass?"

He looked down his nose at me. This dude was tall, dark, and Guado, which by far was a freaky combination. "Even if I did know where the Lady Summoner was, I would not tell the likes of you. Now find another way, _desert scum._"

Air caught in my throat as I realized the implications of his statement. I felt my face frantically, slid the dark sunglasses back up to my eyes again, and smiled brightly. "Now look, _kind sir_, I really don't want to start trouble. I just need to talk to her real quick, you know? Get an autograph and all of that good stuff. Where is she?"

"I refuse to let you pass. Turn back this instant, or else I will call reinforcements."

Well, wasn't he just peachy keen pleasant. I looked quickly behind me, and realized that stupid, _stupid_ me, ran ahead of a certain Legendary Guardian in my excitement of finally arriving to our destination. Of course, I didn't think about the fact that he was my free, backstage pass, into this almighty hallowed ground. Which, was pretty stupid actually, considering there wasn't even anything COOL in Guadosalam. All that was here was a stuffy maester of Yevon, Maester Seymore, and the Farplane, where all the dead people hung out. Not really the best tourist attractions, if you ask me. The _least_ they could have had was an amusement park!

"Okay, how about I make a deal with you?" I said, smiling sweetly, fluttering my eyelashes at him. Well, actually I fluttered my eyelashes about twice before I realized that they were hitting my sunglasses and it wasn't very attractive. So, instead, I stepped back on my right foot, put my left foot in front, put my hands on my hips, and did my best I'm-A-High-Paid-Super-Duper-Model pose.

"Deal?" he asked, his breath quickening a bit. AHA! My skills weren't completely useless, after all. I smiled sweetly, licked my lips and said...

"If you let me through, I will..."

I was speaking quietly, and he leaned forward a bit, dipping down close to me. Yuck. Man, I don't understand how the Guado girls deal with these Guado guys, considering this one happened to be mighty ugly and mighty smelly. Regardless, I still had to do my job. "Yes?"

"I will..."

"Yes..."

"Beat you within an inch of your life if you don't step away from her," a voice from behind me said gruffly.

I spun, excitedly smiling and laughing, and launched myself at him. "Sir Auron, you're my HERO," I yelled out in the girliest voice that I could manage, completely and totally embarrassing him without even a second thought. He frowned and brushed me off of him, intent on completely beating on the smelly Guado guard.

"S...Sir _Auron_... Excuse me, I didn't mean..."

"What seems to be the problem here?"

"This... _Al Bhed scum_... was trying to get into Guadosalam," he spat out, completely disgusted with himself for nearly falling for my super de-duper flirting skills.

"That Al Bhed Scum, as you wish to call her, is Lady Rikku, Guardian to Summoner Yuna. Now, I suggest you let us both pass without a question, and maybe I'll let you keep your life."

The guard bristled at the thought of me, the almighty Lady Rikku (hey, I like the sound of that!), being guardian to someone as important as my cousin. Well, hey, it's not my fault I'm so cool. "An Al Bhed, a guardian? Never. You lie, Sir Auron. She herself told me that she wanted an autograph."

With that little comment, I looked at my toes nervously, giggling a bit at the fact that this stupid, smelly Guado dude actually thought that I was serious. But, when I glanced at Auron, I realized that maybe, just maybe, the guard just might have went a _teensy _bit too far with the whole "Sir Auron, you lie!" stuff. I mean, I've said some crazy stuff to that man, but I have never, ever point blank told him he was a liar. In fact, I've never even doubted that something that he said was true. That's just how it is with him. If it comes out of Auron's mouth, then it might as well be gospel, because he's got the trust of the whole entire world behind him.

But of course, I could see why, considering he was menacingly tapping his katana on his shoulder, the look in his eye clearly saying, "DEATH TO YOU, GUADO GUARD", which I think the smelly dude noticed, considering he was nervously twitching. Knowing that a brawl was about to happen, I kindly decided to step in and save the poor thing's life. I touched a hand to Auron's arm, and slowly shook my head. He nodded a bit and backed up, still tapping that katana on his shoulder in such a way that made ME twitch.

"Look... What's your name?"

"Uh... H..Herman," he stuttered nervously.

"Okay, Herman..." I said, patting his shoulder and ignoring the grunt that came from behind me, "I can understand why it would be a bit unrealistic, the whole me being a guardian thing. But, that really isn't for you to decide or even ponder, honestly. So, I suggest that one, you let us in, and two, you never, _ever_ call Sir Auron a liar in his presence ever again, considering the fact that you are narrowly escaping death at this moment as it is. Now, the gate?"

"Yes, my lady," he bowed, touching the small button on the wall and opening the gate, to my surprise. I opened my mouth to speak, but Auron had already grabbed my hand and started to drag me down the path to the hidden city.

"But wait, did you see that?"

"No, but I sure did smell it," he grumbled. "Now, where is Yuna supposed to be?"

"Waiting at the inn, or in front of a wildly public, easy to find place." I started to speed off in front of him, almost getting up to a run before I felt him yank me back. "What?" I asked, exasperated.

"Look, you already got into trouble with that guard, so you need to stick by me and not show your eyes _at all_. Keep the sunglasses pushed up on your nose at all times. Got it?"

"This would be so much better if my eyes were only normal..." I mumbled.

"Well, they're not, so stop complaining. Besides, your eyes are fine the way that they are."

"No, Auron, they're not. They're fine when they look normal. Now, they're just goober green and swirly and very, very, _very_ ugly looking." I pushed my sunglasses farther up my nose, smushing them to my forehead. "Hopefully, they'll go back to normal soon."

Auron looked at me strangly, "Normal? What are you talking about?" He pulled me onto the side of the path into the underground city, keeping me out of the way of the travellers.

"Something happened after the fight with Chimmy... It happens every once in awhile, and I'm not exactly sure what causes it, but usually my eyes are emerald green and you can hide the swirls, but now it's completely and totally obvious that I'm Al Bhed, which isn't very helpful by the way and... why are you laughing?"

Which he was, by the way. He was standing there, hand peaking out of his crimson coat, other hand leaning his katana on the ground, chuckling like I just told him the funniest joke in the whole world. He shook his head, trying to catch his breath, as I tapped my foot on the ground, getting more and more upset as he kept going. "Rikku, I'm sorry, but the fact that you were Al Bhed was ALWAYS obvious. Goober green..." he mumbled as he laughed some more, "Wonderful color description, Rikku."

"Look," I said, frusterated and annoyed with his amusment at me, especially since it wasn't very funny at all, "I hate to stop you when you're obviously having such a rockin' time over here, but we really do need to go find Yuna and the rest of the group." His eyes opened wide, and his mouth dropped open in shock, but I was in no mood for him. "What, Auron? Come on, let's go," I said, starting off at a determined pace in front of him.

"Amazing," he grumbled behind me.

There goes the SECOND time that he's said that one word in my presence. "What is?" I asked, unconciously mimicing our last encounter.

"You're turning into me, it seems. It's very unbecoming on you."

Oh my... the NERVE of that man! "Well thanks Auron, I just love getting insulted after I just totally saved your butt from that stupid innkeeper, not to mention the fact that I can't seem to find my cousin, and you are being completely USELESS!" I yelled, grinding and stomping my boots into the ground.

"Useless," he grunted. "Thank you, Rikku."

Then, he walked away, leaving me to chase behind him, fuming as I stomped along the path downward into the heart of Guadosalam. The city was lovely, I suppose, but it really wasn't my cup of tea, considering I grew up in a place that was made of blood and sand and sweat and metal, sitting in the middle of an island in the sea, in the heart of Bikinal. Picturing Home really took the beauty away from this boring place, especially since both of the attractions at this place I wasn't stepping near with a ten foot pole ANYWAY.

Numbero Uno was the Farplane, of course. The spiffy, wonderful place where all of the dead people on Spira turned into pyreflies and lingered, waiting for innocent, nieve people to come inside. Then, when someone walked inside the Farplane and thought of a dead loved one, the pyreflies assembled again to make a holographic image of them. Mind you, the image didn't move, talk, or even listen to you, really. It just sat there. Not worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

The second thing, which of course was the focus of all of Spira, was Maester Seymore's humble abode, which really and truely was a mansion. I guess once upon a time, Maester Seymore's daddy decided to bring the whole Guado race up to date with the Yevon thing, and because of that, Seymore got to be a head of Yevon. The weird thing about him though, which freaked me out when I saw that one postage stamp of him once upon a time, was that he was half Guado, half human. Not exactly the most handsome race combination, lemme tell you. He was definatly a creepy one, but even if I did want to see him up close, I couldn't.

It wasn't exactly like they were going to let me take the grand tour of his house or anything. I mean, they would probably suspect me of "poisoning the maester" or "stealing from the palace" or something else stupid. Not that I wouldn't steal, mind you, but that's not the point.

But suddenly, I spotted who I needed to see. "YUNIE!" I screamed, running at her, smushing her with a hug.

"Oomph, Rikku! Settle down, you've only been away from me for about three hours."

Whoops. "Oh, sorry." I pried myself away from her, but then grabbed her back when I saw the look on her face. "Yunie, what's going on?"

"Well, we were invited to..."

"An all expense paid trip back home? Thank goodness!" I yelled, dancing around.

She laughed out loud, smiling at my stupidity. "No, no, not there."

"Then where? I hope it's somewhere cool, like an amusement park or a dance club or something."

"No, not there either."

"Where, Yunie, where?"

She smiled, put her hands behind her back, and said the one thing that I never, _ever _expected.

"Maester Seymore invited us to dine at his house."


	9. Bnehlacc of the Al Bhed

_I want to tell  
__If I am or am not myself  
__It's hard to know  
__How far or if at all could go  
__Waiting for too long  
__For something I forgot was wrong  
__I don't know all the answers  
__I think that I'll find  
__Or have it within the time  
__But it's all that I'll have in mind_

_-_**"Until I Fall Away"** by Gin Blossoms

"Yunie, you're crazy," I sighed, watching her sift through the racks of clothes at the shop. "It's only a dinner. We really don't need to look that fancy, you know."

"Yes, we do! This is a dinner with _Maester Seymour_, remember? Maester of Yevon? Head of all things important to me? Least that we could do is dress nicely when we meet him," she said, flipping past dresses of all colors, shapes, and sizes. "Now, what size are you?"

Now, it's pretty obvious that I am NOT a girl who wears dresses. I wear easy things, you know, tanktops, shorts, little boots. I don't even wear my hair in pretty ways! Just a easy ponytail, with a few braids coming out of the back. Sure, I spiffed up the braids a bit with some feathers, but that's about as far as I'll go.

"Five," I sighed, defeated. "You know I don't wear this stuff. Why don't YOU wear the dress, and let me wear my shorts in peace?"

"AHA! I found one!" she shouted as she tossed a mountain of bright green fabric over her head, completely ignoring me. "Now, go try that on!"

"Only for you, Yunie, only for you..." I grumbled as I walked into the small dressing area behind her, dragging the unwanted monstrocity of a dress behind me. Closing the door, I pulled off my shirt and shorts, and started to inspect the dress to find some sort of zipper or buttons so that I could actually put it on. Of course, there couldn't be anything to make this process any easier, could there? Frusterated, I finally just slid the dress over my head, yanking it down past my waist, and stepped back out into the shop. "How does it look?" I mumbled.

Yuna turned to look at me, and then her mouth dropped open. "Oh honey," she giggled. "You obviously need some help..." She stepped towards me, and backed me back into the small dressing area.

"What's wrong?"

"Look in the mirror, Rikku," she laughed, and I turned to look at the mirror.

Whoops. Obviously, my head was NOT supposed to come through the armhole on these things. "Oh Yunie," I cried out, frusterated. "I can't do this at all! I'll just stay in, okay? I would need to wear those sunglasses anyway, and I can't look pretty with some oversized frames on my nose. I'll just catch up on my beauty rest, capeesh?"

"No, no, no..." she smiled. "I'll help you. Come here with that dress of yours," she said as she grabbed the dress, wrestled with the fabric, and finally, my head came through the appropirate hole. "And look, your eyes are taming down a bit. I think it was an allergic reaction of some kind. Besides," she said slyly, "Sir Auron's sunglasses look nice on you."

"They're not his," I grumbled, making sure not to catch her eyes. "I bought them when I realized that my eyes didn't look right."

"You're a poor liar," she laughed. "You came downstairs today wearing them, and he came downstairs without his. It was pretty obvious." Yuna messed with a few more pieces of fabric on my dress, dusted off her hands, and grinned. "Now, look in the mirror."

I turned towards the mirror, and my mouth dropped open. Sure, the dress was green, but it was emerald green and satin, with a corset and a full skirt. There were small straps keeping it up, touching the fabric with a small bow, and the back laced together with a larger bow. I did a few spins, watching all of the fabric float around me.

"I look beautiful," I whispered.

"That you do," she said, smiling at my delight. "And if we fix your hair a bit, you'll look even better. Now, to find mine..." she giggled, running back to the racks of dresses.

"Oooh, wait for me!" I shouted, running after her.

**Later that evening....**

"Ready?" Yuna called up the stairs, where everyone was waiting. I was the last one ready, stalling a bit at the top of the stairs, where only Yuna could see me.

"I don't want to do this," I mumbled, sliding the sunglasses back up my nose, and twirling a bit of my hair in my fingertips. "Can't I just stay in? _Please_?" I begged.

"Come on, Rikku, it can't look that bad, ya?" Wakka called. I heard a large oomph, and his voice drifted up again, "Ouch! Lu, come on, I didn't mean that she looked bad..."

"Well, you implied it," she replied. "Rikku, you look gorgeous, and this will all be over before you know it."

"Look, Lulu," I called. "You wear dresses! And Yunie, you wear skirts! I can't wear this stuff, period! I'm just going to go back to my room," I mumbled, before turning around to head back to the hallway. I heard them mumbling, and the door slam shut to the inn. I breathed a sigh of relief, and slumped my shoulders the rest of the way to my room.

Someone stomped up the stairs, and caught my wrist just before I walked into my room. I spun quickly, and found myself looking deep into the single eye of Auron. I sucked in my breath, shocked. "What... Why are you here? I'm going back to bed."

"No, you're not," he shot back. "If I have to go, you have to go."

"But... Auron, come on! I don't wear this kind of stuff, and I feel uncomfortable. Cover for me, please?" I pleaded with him.

"That's not why you don't want to go, Rikku, and we all know it. Stop being a coward, and tell me the real reason why you don't want to come."

That comment hit me like a punch to the chest, and I sucked in my breath, staring at his face. Sure, that wasn't the real reason why I didn't want to go, but how did he figure it out? "Auron," I sighed, pulling off my sunglasses. "What do you see?"

"Someone who's wearing a dress that makes her look like a princess."

I blushed ten different shades of red, and smiled. "That would be because I am a princess, Auron."

He blinked several times, shocked. "What do you... are you serious?"

"Of course," I giggled.

"How can that be?"

"My pops is the leader of the... Well, you know. Being that I'm his daughter, that makes me a princess, technically, even though that isn't want we call it."

"What do you call it?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"I am Rikku, Bnehlacc of the Al Bhed," I said proudly, curtsying. "Pleased to formally make your acquaintance, Sir Auron."

He bowed, smiling. "The pleasure is all mine, Rikku."

"Well, with that out of the way, I must be going to bed. Goodnight Auron!" I spun away, but he grabbed my hand again.

"Ah, nice try. You still haven't told me why you don't wish to dine with the Maester tonight," he said seriously, all former humor tucked away again, leaving barely any expression in his face.

I sighed with defeat, and slumped against the nearest wall, refusing to look at his face. "Let's face the facts here, Auron. I'm an Al Bhed! I can't get away with going into the Maester's house without anyone noticing, and if I was caught, then Yunie would get in trouble or I would be killed. Or most likely, both. Being killed just to have a piece of chocobo burger is not really my preferred way to go. Plus," I added, feeling worse by the minute, "I feel completely and totally uncomfortable in this dress and I can't breathe. Are you happy now?"

"Rikku, I honestly don't think any of us are really comfortable going into the Maester's house. I heard from Tidus and Wakka that Maester Seymour demanded Yuna's presence at his table, and they had to push it to make sure that we all could go. Besides," he said smiling," I doubt we're going to be eating chocobo burgers, so you won't have to die for some low class dining."

I sighed with exasperation, glaring at him. "You know that wasn't the point."

"Even so, it was a good poing to make. Also, if you just keep those sunglasses on, and stay by me, I'll make sure that no one will be suspecious of you."

My mouth dropped open, and I was in shock. "You'll protect me?"

"Of course. Now, are you coming? We really must get going, we're already late," he said, putting his arm through mine, and leading me down the steps and out into the night. We just about reached the steps to the Maester's palace before I finally noticed something.

"Hey, wait!" I said, stopping. "How come you didn't have to dress up? That's not fair!"

"Because, princess, I'm Sir Auron, and no one gets me out of this coat unless they want a death wish," he said sarcastically, raising his eyebrow from behind his dark shades.

"Lucky," I grumbled as he pushed his way into the door, dragging me behind him.

**AN: Just thought that I should mention that I suck and I don't know how to spell, lol. So, if I happened to mess up people's names, like Seymour for instance, feel free to slap me around, or at least correct me. I hope you guys like this one, because I feel much better about this chapter than I did about the last one, which I felt was HORRIBLE, but I put it up anyway because I was too lazy to write a different one. So, have a lovely day, and Happy Holidays everyone!**


	10. Cinnimon Cookies

_Yes I am  
__I hope you think you read me  
__Hope I start talking crazy  
__Before you understand me  
__Are we through?  
__You think that I'm beneath you  
__But you like the things that I do  
__Well, wrap 'em up and take 'em with you_

_-_**"You're So Real"** by Matchbox Twenty

"About time you got here," Tidus mumbled under his breath as Auron and I slid into the hallway of the Maester's palace. Everyone else seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that I actually showed up. Who, me? Miss the biggest shindig in the world? I shrunk back a bit, embarrassed, but I felt Auron's hand on my back propelling me forward into the middle of the room. Son-of-a-drunken-monkey... He was actually going to make me do this.

"Yunie? I'm here," I whispered to her, across a room filled with portraits of dead Guado royalty along the staircases and pots of plants that weren't even pretty. She turned, and her eyes lit up.

"I knew you would come!" she said, smiling. Then, she twirled around a bit, her aqua dress spinning circles around her. It was strapless, and had small ribbons everywhere. I saw Tidus watching her from a few feet away, and I raised my eyebrows at him, tsking under my breath. Wakka, also noticing him eyeball my dear cousin, elbowed him in the side, making him bend over gasping for air. Wakka laughed a bit and looked away, and Tidus took that opportunity to smack Wakka upside the head.

"I can't do this," I mumbled, turning away from the feuding boys. I started messing with my hair and the stupid, stupid sunglasses, making them slide down my face and back up again. Up and down, up and down they went, making me jittery and nervous, making me want to run screaming for my life all the way back to that little beach on the side of the Moonflow where I happened to meet this chipper bunch.

But I couldn't do that, considering Mr. Grumpypants just so happened to have a death grip on the bow on the back of my dress and Yunie was counting on me to be here for her.

Pops probably would tell me at this point, "Rikku, that's what you get for getting yourself into this mess. You had a simple mission, and you just HAD to screw it up, didn't you?"

Snatch your cousin so that we can save her, remember? That was my mission on the day that I met Yuna, and it would have worked if it wasn't for Tidus and Wakka beating the CRUD out of my super duper, underwater machina that I spent a year building. How I went from being the coolest Al Bhed Bnehlacc in the whole world who can save everyone, including saving my very own cousin from HERSELF, to someone so stupid that she helps her very own relative get to the Platform O' Death in Zanarkand is beyond me.

Yeah, I know all of the blind Yevonites want to scream out in unison, "You stupid Al Bhed, Yuna is _saving the world_." Sacrificing herself just so that the big fishy monster Sin can come back in ten years doesn't sound like saving the world to me. And sure, I could understand if she wanted to do this as a very last resort, if it was the _first_ time in history that it ever happened.

But no, this just had to be her very FIRST plan of action. Sin has been around for a-freaking-THOUSAND years, but of course everyone just nods and says, "That's the way it must be." People are dying left and right, but the so-called smartypants geniuses of the world, after SO much consideration and studying, just have to say, "By skippy, I've got it! Let's kill MORE people!"

"Rikku, _pay attention_!" Auron hissed into my ear, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glanced wildly around the hallway, and suddenly realized that Herman the Smelly Guado was leading us into one of the billion doorways along the staircases in the room.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

He nodded, then said, "Fix your sunglasses."

"Thanks," I said even quieter this time, pushing them up on my nose, feeling the cheap plastic press against my skin.

His hand was still on my back, and he started to lead me into the doorway when I started breathing fast, nervous little puffs of air that didn't do much for my lungs at all. I could feel myself starting to panic, and I reached over and clutched onto his arm, hoping against hope that he would take pity on my poor soul and stall for at least another minute.

He stopped, thank goodness. I leaned away from him onto the wall, and breathed and breathed and breathed, trying to catch up to my very own quickness, trying to settle myself down. But, it wasn't working, and I shut my eyes, feeling some sort of attack that was totally not cool coming on. I was panicing enough for the entire smelly Guado population, and I clutched my hands into tiny fists, trying to stop it.

"Shhhh..." Auron whispered. "Settle down... You will be fine, we all will be fine, and this will be done before you know it."

I nodded, my eyes closed up so tightly that I could feel the makeup on my eyelashes fusing together into some sort of black, yucky, eye goop. "Y.. You... You're not the one..." I stuttered, gasping for air between my words, "Your life isn't on the line... But mine is... And he'll know, Auron, I know he'll know. I can't do this... Please let me go back!"

"If you run, what will you have accomplished today?" he paused, taking a moment to glare at me. "Nothing, but being a coward, Rikku, and believe me, you are far from a coward."

"You're wrong... I am a coward..." I mumbled, looking at my toes.

He looked at me and shook his head. "When you grow up, come into the room. Otherwise, say goodbye to being a Guardian."

_And me_, his voice seemed to echo into the quiet of the hallway.

And with those hushed words, and a piercing look that made me feel about two inches tall, he spun away and walked into the room.

"Auron, wait..." I called, but he didn't respond. Tears filled my eyes, and I breathed in deep and took a moment to ponder my options. On one hand, I could walk into the room and face an almost certain death, due to the fact that I was born into the uncool crowd.

Or, on the other hand, I could just walk away another almost certain death, and skip off into the sunset, happy as a clam. I could pretend that I never met Yunie or any of the others, could pretend that it wasn't my cousin who was dying any day now in Zanarkand, could pretend that it wasn't my friends being killed trying to protect her.

And I could pretend that I never met the man of my dreams, whose face I cannot recognise but whose smell I could pick out of a crowd of a billion, stinky clubbers.

The thought of _it_ snapped me back into reality, and with a deep breath and a determined look on my face, I stomped right into that room, dress flailing about in the wind. The room was covered in tables filled with every single kind of food that I've ever dreamed of in my whole life, but my mind wasn't even on eating. I slammed the door behind me, which caught the attention of the whole room, including Herman.

"Hey! Wait a second, aren't you..." he started, but he stopped the second he felt the tap of Auron's katana on the ground next to him.

"Shut up if you value your life."

"Aye, that I do, sir," he mumbled quietly. Then, brightly, to everyone in the rest of the room, "If you would wait just a moment, Maester Seymour should be here any second. Make sure to help yourself to the food."

"We don't have all day," Auron stated simply.

"Sir Auron!" Yunie hissed. "Thank you... Herman? Yes, that's your name. Have a lovely day!"

"You too, Lady Summoner," Herman mumbled as he slid out of the room.

Tidus looked back and forth at everyone, but his eyes finally rested on me. "Rikku, he knew you... right?" he asked, looking mighty confused.

"You could say that," I mumbled, not looking him in the eyes. "But, anyway, are you going to have something to eat?" I asked brightly, directing my voice to the entire room.

"I'm not very hungry," Yuna said.

"You should eat something, ya?" Wakka said, concern for Yunie showing on his face.

"Come here, Yunie," I said, grabbing a hold of her and propelling us both towards the food tables. "I'm not very hungry either, but lets both fix a plate and pretend that we're loving this stuff, okay? I mean, when will be the next time that we have this much yummy foood at our disposal?"

"I agree with Rikku," Lulu said. "We should all take the time to eat at least a little something, regardless of how hungry we are."

"Kimarhi needs a plate," Kimarhi said from beside me, the very first time that he ever spoke in my presence.

"Here you go," I smiled at him, handing him one of the delicate glass plates. Yuna handed some plates over to Lulu, who handed them all out to Wakka, Tidus, and Auron. We all then spread out, everyone grabbing small spoonfuls of all of the different kinds of food. I, of course, skipped right over everything healthy and moved right over to the dessert table.

"Rikku, what are you doing?" Yunie asked, confused.

"Well Yunie, considering I'm not hungry, I'm going to eat the stuff that I really want, which at this point of time is cookies and cake. Care to join me, darling?" I said rolling my eyes wildly and making her laugh.

"No, thank you, I'll save that for last."

"Suit yourself," I said, scoping out all of the cookies in front of me. There were chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin and... _cinnimon cookies!_ "Oh my God!" I yelped. "I can't believe they have these!"

"Have what?" Auron called out, making his way towards me.

"Cinnimon cookies! They're so awesome," I said excitedly, piling my plate full of them. The smell of them spun around me, and I just felt like dancing around in the goodness of it all. "_It_ smells like cinnimon cookies... Mmmm..." I said, stuffing three into my mouth at the same time, spewing out crumbs in all directions.

"Save some for me," Auron said, smiling at my excited display of love towards these wonderful cookies. "I would think that you would like chocolate cookies, or cake covered in frosting."

"Oh I do, but these are so much better... You like them too?"

"They're my favorite," he nodded, scooping a large pile of them onto his mostly empty plate.

I stopped, frozen in wonder at his statement. "You... your favorite?" I whispered.

He turned, surprised with my reaction, and started to say something. "Well..."

But the second he opened his mouth, the large doors at the front of the room swung open. All of our eyes were pulled in the direction of the movement, and there, in all of his Guado glory, was the Maester.

I gulped nervously, and pressed my sunglasses into my face.

"Welcome, Lady Yuna and her Guardians. I am Maester Seymour."

**AN: Hi everyone! I hope you guys like this chapter, and maybe with this one I'll hit the big ONE ZERO ZERO in reviews!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee skippy! But, I have to say, I probably won't be back for about a week, due to holiday celebrations and all of that good stuff. So everyone, have a wonderful Christmas, and I'll see you after the New Year!**


	11. Sugar Plums Dancing

_I wanted to be like you  
I wanted everything  
So I tried to be like you  
__And I got swept away_

_I didn't know that it was so cold and  
__You needed someone  
__To show you the way  
__So I took your hand and we figured out that  
__When the tide comes  
__I'd take you away_

_-_**"All You Wanted" **by Michelle Branch

I nearly dropped my plate of cookies at the appearance of the Maester. He stood, his silhouette surrounded by the light coming in the doorway. His hair was blue and in the usual Guado hairstyle, large pieces clumped together and made into zigzag lines that trailed down his back and over his face. His robes were long and far too big for him, but they were opened in the front, giving a mighty huge view of his chest. And his face, although handsome, I suppose, was covered in veins that mimiced his hairstyle.

"I'm very pleased that you decided to grace me with your presense this evening. Welcome to my home. Oh," he smiled, nodding, "I see that you've already started to help yourselves. Very good! That means we can get started."

Yuna bowed, smiling gracefully at Maester Seymour. "Thank you very much for inviting us, my lord."

"Would all of you like to sit down? I'm sure it would be much more comfortable to eat at a table."

"Yes, thank you," Yuna replied. The rest of us decided, it seemed, to let her do all of the talking for us. Besides, it was her right, being our Summoner and all. I sure wasn't jumping to have a conversation with him.

Everyone moved towards the table in the middle of the room, but I stalled for a moment. Auron looked down at me, glared a bit, and pushed me along. Unfortunatly, by the time I reached the table, the only seat left was the one next to the Maester himself. Auron pulled out my seat, then when I was settled, sat down next to me.

"Why hello," Seymour said to me as I nervously picked at my food. "I was aquainted with all of the other guardians when they first arrived, but I don't believe that we've met. What's your name?"

Great. "My name is Rikku, my lord," I mumbled, making sure not to look at him.

"Are you enjoying your stay at Guadosalam?" he asked nicely, apparently trying to make me feel more comfortable.

"It's a lovely city," I said even more quietly, trying to disappear into the chair. I started to pick up my cookies and took a small bite, taking great care to chew slowly as possible.

"Have you visited the Farplane yet?" he asked, not leaving me alone for even a second.

Yuna cut in at this point, saving me. "We all decided to go as a group, but I'm sure we won't have time until tomorrow morning, isn't that right, Rikku?"

"Of course," I whispered, breath bearly even coming out of my lungs. "The Farplane... Tomorrow. Yay."

"Yay?" Yuna, Auron, and the Maester all mimiced at once.

"If I didn't know better, Rikku, I would think that you were disrespecting the Farplane," Maester Seymour said sternly, staring me down. Oh, lovely. Now, I've got Guado Man in a huff. Why must I always be stuck in these stupid social situations?

Yuna, trying to save me, I guess, started talking quickly. "No, of course not, right, Rikku? She is just tired from the Pilgrimage, and she was injured just a few days past. We were all so worried about her, but she's coming along just fine and..."

Yuna seemed to go on and on and on for _hours_. I nodded and tried to look interested, but I could feel my head starting to spin. Dizzy, I looked down at my plate, but of course, I had absolutly no cookies left. Just when I needed to choke myself with one too. I lifted myself to my feet, balancing my hands on the table for the minute as I stablized myself.

"I... I have to... I don't feel well..." I started mumbling, feeling myself tip to the side. Luckily, that time, I caught myself just before I spilled onto the Maester's lap, but I overcorrected a bit and ended up landing in Auron's instead, causing him to spit out the cookie that he just put into his mouth directly into the lovely, tangled up masses of my hair. And, of course, just as I lifted my hands up to comb the chewed crumbs out of my hair, the tempermental sunglasses slipped off of my face.

They hit the floor before I could catch them, and I was left defenseless. I shut my eyes tightly, turned, and shoved my face into Auron's coat. "Please... Someone just kill me now..." I mumbled, feeling myself start to cry.

"I'm going to take her to get cleaned up," Auron said, standing, lifting me up with him as if I was just one of the feathers normally braided in my hair.

I heard a snap, and he replied, "Herman?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Show them to the nearest washroom."

"Yes, my lord," he said humbly as I felt Auron start walking, following the smelly guard.

I clutched onto the opening of the crimson coat, trying to calm myself down a bit. And I breathed, in and out, in and out, gulping my breaths and hiccupping from my tears. I was embarrassed, okay? Embarrassed, scared for my life, and completely and wildly dizzy.

"Shhh... We're almost there," he whispered to the top of my head.

"Right here, Sir Auron. I'll wait for you and Lady Rikku to come out to lead you back."

"There's no need for that, Herman. Go," Auron said, ice seeming to drip from his very tone of voice. Then, I felt my body slip through his fingers as I fell, bounce, bounce, bounce, onto something incredibly snuggly. I opened my eyes slightly as I glanced around the large room, bright purple in color and covered in paintings of Guado mothers. Creepy, yes, but at that point in time I felt wonderful just being away from everyone else. I looked over my shoulder and realized that I was laying on a light purple minibed, which seemed rather odd being in a washroom, but I wasn't too worried about it.

But what gave me the snuggliest feeling inside was seeing Auron stand in the middle of the room, looking out of place and mighty concerned. He really did protect me, just like he said he was going to. Amazing.

"Hi," I whispered, turning so I could lay on my side. He grunted and I smiled, motioning him down next to me. He kneeled next to the bed slowly, and he smiled slightly at me, looking relieved.

"Are you alright?" he asked, starting to brush the cookie crumbs out of my hair.

"Better than before..." I murmured, staring into his eye. "Thank you..."

"For what?" his sunglasses slid down his nose, and I nudged them with my finger, grinning as they slid back down again.

"For protecting me... for everything..." I said, as I started to sit up. He held his hand up quickly, trying to stop me, but I could feel everything go back to normal for me and sat up despite his concern. "I'm okay now, thanks to you. Thank you so much for getting me out of there, even if we have to go back in a minute anyway."

I could see him start to blush a bit, and it made me want to giggle. "Your welcome," he grunted, not looking at me.

I noticed a mirror across the room, and I stood up, putting my hand on his shoulder to steady me. But, surprisingly, he grabbed my hand instead, and lead me over to the mirror. My hair was a mess, oh yes, but my dress and face seemed to look okay. Except for one thing...

"The sunglasses fell under the table, didn't they?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes... Can you go get them for me?" I asked sweetly, batting my eyelashes obnoxiously at him.

"Fine. But stay _right here._ Understand?" he said sternly, staring me down.

"Of course!" I said, shocked at his distrust in me. "I'll be standing right here when you get back, okay?"

He nodded and turned to go, coat whipping behind him as he put his hand on the door.

"Wait..." I said slowly as I reached out for his arm

"Yes?" he grunted, as he turned back to face me. "What else do you want, princess?"

"This..." I whispered as I threw my arms around him. I was up on my tippy toes, but I didn't care, because I had my arms around his neck and I was clutching onto his coat with everything I was worth. And I squeezed and I squeezed and I squeezed, and while I was squeezing him so tight the veins were popping out of my arms, I felt his arms slide from his side to around my waist. And I sighed and breathed in deeply, revelling in the wonder of it all, when I caught the whiff of something wonderful.

_It..._ Sir Auron the Almighty smelled exactly like _it..._

"You..." I breathed as I let go slightly and looked into his eye, "You... You..." He smirked at me, taking pleasure in my discomfort it seemed, as I tried to find my voice and make intellegent words pass through my mouth. "You're... Why didn't I notice..."

"What, princess? What didn't you notice?" he smiled, seeing everything come together in my eyes.

Finally, I understood everything. EVERYTHING. Or, at least, everything that I could possibly understand with the information that I had at the moment. Love, sake, and _cinnimon cookies_.... Why hadn't I thought of this before? Stupid, stupid me...

The room seemed to get brighter and darker all at the same time. My eyes opened wide, and I moved my hands from behind his neck to touch his face. My fingertips stroked the stubble on his cheeks, chin, and the pinky, delicate skin from the scar. His breath caught in his throat at my exploration, and his entire face turned red, blushing in a shade that matched his coat perfectly.

He grabbed my hand and stopped me. "What didn't you notice?"

"_You_," I breathed, as I leaned in and kissed him.

The kiss was long and sweet, and I clutched his face, trying to hold onto something that could keep my body from flying away. I smelled _it, _I tasted _it_, I breathed _it_ in that very moment, where my mind seemed to stop and my heart started to soar. I could see sugar plums dancing and fireworks exploding behind my closed eyelids, and I was in such a dizzy euphoria that I could hardly keep a hold of myself, let alone keep track of anything else.

_It _was Auron, and Auron was _it_, and kissing him made my entire soul come alive.

We broke apart, and I leaned my forehead against his, breathing hard and fast, barely keeping up with what had just happened. "I can't believe we just did that..." I giggled.

"I certainly wasn't expecting it," he added gruffly, attempting to be serious, but it obviously wasn't working due to the slight smile on his face.

I stared into his face, and traced the lines across his skin with the tips of my fingers, feeling a sense of peace deeper than anything that I've ever felt before. But I still wasn't sure of everything that I thought I knew, and I just had to clarify everything. Call me crazy, but sometimes people just have to state the obvious for me. "You... You saved me from Chimmy, didn't you?", I asked hesitantly.

His mouth quirked up on one corner, and I felt embarrassed for asking. "Yes," he said simply.

"And carried me all the way to the inn?"

"Yes."

"And sat up with me the whole night?"

"Rikku, obviously the answer is yes. What do you really want to know?" His gaze probed into mine, and I knew I was caught.

The real question was, _WHY?_ Why did he do all of these things when he barely even knew me? What was in it for him to protect me? But of course, I could never ask him those questions, they're _way_ too important and embarrassing to just blurt out without any kind of thought to it.

I know it's hard to believe that I could be embarrassed by anything, really, considering my peachy keen attitude about everything, but believe me, when I get embarrassed, it's horrible. I get red and smudgy and start to stutter, and then I wish I was never born. It is always much better if I just avoid that whole stupid situation.

"I... I wanna know why you haven't got my sunglasses yet, mister," I stammered, trying to deflect the question away from me. "You should do that so no one starts to worry and comes to check on us, okay?" I pulled my arms back to my sides and stepped back into the cool air, nervously playing with the material of my dress, trying not to look him in the eyes.

He looked at me curiously, I know, but then sighed and turned away. "Stay here," he said sternly.

"Of course," I agreed. "Where else do I have to go?"

The click of the lavender door shutting was the answer to my question.

**AN: Have I thanked my reviewers yet? I don't think so! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to my reviewers, each and every one of you, who make me smile at my computer screen whenever I get an email about you. I hope you like this new chapter, and another one will be coming up soon (tomorrow maybe, not sure), because I already know where I want the next few chapters to go. Oh, and Happy New Year!**


	12. Claws

_The simple minded  
__And the uninformed  
__Can be easily led astray  
__And those who cannot connect the dots  
__Hey, look the other way  
__People believe what they want to believe  
__When it makes no sense at all  
__And I wish you along the sideline  
__Had the strength to walk tall_

-**"Walk Tall"** by John Mellencamp

I stood for a few moments in that lavender washroom, staring into a bright purple mirror at my messy reflection. My hair still had bits off cookie crumbs in it, and was sticking out at the sides from Auron running his fingers through it. My cheeks were flushed, my dress was wrinkled, but my eyes looked beautiful, for once in my life.

Auron was the one. I almost couldn't believe how stupid I was not to notice it before. I didn't notice how he protected me, how easily we got along, how much he loved cinnamon cookies? Very, very, _very_ stupid of me. But now that I knew, I just had to act on it. Hold hands with him, dance around with him, spin circles and bake cookies and be HAPPY for the rest of my seeming to be very short life.

I heard the click of the door opening behind me, and I spun, smiling as wide as I possibly could. "Oh, thank you, Auron!"

"Auron isn't here, princess."

I froze in my spot, my smile fading faster than a speeding chocobo. "I... I don't know what you're talking about, my lord. You must have the wrong person."

Seymour stood in the doorway, silliouetted by the the light in the hallway. He slid inside, his robes trailing along the ground like a gigantic broomstick, sweeping the floor spotless behind him. The door shut behind him with a fatal sounding click, and another snap indicated that the door was locked.

I was trapped, and I had no escape.

"I know exactly who you are, Rikku, bnehlacc of the Al Bhed. I was thought so when I heard your name, but I was _absolutly sure_ when I saw your eyes for the first time. Sunglasses were a nice touch, my dear," his voice sounded more and more menacing as he continued to step closer and closer to me.

My panic started to reach a fevered pitch, where I knew I had no place to run, no place to hide, and I was desperate to get away. But, the slightly royal upbringing that I had forced me to be proud and stare the Maester directly in the eyes. They were cold as ice, and I felt a shiver go up my spine. "Get to the point, Seymour. I highly doubt you're in here just to visit with me."

"You're right," he snarled as he made another step, two, three, which caused me to make another back step, two, three, right into the wall. "You're a smart girl, princess." My back hit the cold surface and I looked around frantically, searching for a trap door, a hole in the floor, ANYTHING. But there was nothing, and I was forced to straighten my back, raise up my shoulders, and stare Guadoboy in the eyes again.

"Why thank you. Now, _get to the point._"

His hand reached up, and he had _claws_. Great, great, great. The tips of his claws traced my jawline and he smirked at me, and I could feel my heart rate jump up, and my mind start to spin. I needed an escape route, FAST.

"Tell me where Home is, and maybe I'll let you and your little friends live."

I sucked in my breath as the implications of his demand hit my mind. If I told him where Home was, he would send troups and kill everyone in my family, and there was NO way that was going to happen. But, if I didn't tell, he would kill Yunie and Tidus and everyone and.... _Auron_, oh my great googleberries, he would kill Auron.

Three hundred Al Bhed family members, or six friends. Three hundred people who raised me and made me into who I am, or six friends who took care of me at my worst.

One hundred and fifty eligible Al Bhed bachelors, or the man of my dreams.

"I... I refuse. You can take all seven of us, but I will not let you kill my entire family."

"What would your friends think of your decision, dear princess?" he asked sarcastically as he continued to trace my face and now my neckline of my dress. "Only three hundred of you dirty traitors left, but if I kill Lady Yuna, Sin will kill the rest of Spira. Only three hundred left of the dirty, desert scum, traitors left, and if I killed them off, it would be a gift that Spira would thank me for, but if Yuna died, everyone on Spira would die, including your family."

My mind filled with rage at the names that he called my family, but I made myself back down. If I act indifferent, maybe he'll let them live... please please, let them Yunie and everyone live. "There will be other summoners," I added.

"Hmm... I have another plan, desert flower," he whispered as he started to trace my arms with those claws of his. I could feel my breath catch in my throat, and I knew exactly what he wanted. "If you decided to be my slave, maybe I could spare everyone else's lives."

"A... A Maester, having an Al Bhed slave? What would the people of Yevon say?" I forced myself to say flippantly.

"They would say nothing, because you would be hidden from view. You would be in a cell, in the dark of the lowest quarters of this house, chained to a wall, waiting every moment of your life for me to walk through that door. It would be great fun for both of us. Agreed?"

"_Never_," I spit out. "I would rather drown in the deepest sea than be your slave."

"Aha, I was afraid you were going to say that," he chuckled. "But I'm afraid I have an offer that will be absolutly _impossible_ to refuse."

"And that is?"

Suddenly, he grabbed my hands and pressed himself against me, forcing me up next to the wall. "If you aren't my slave," he hissed, "I'll _destroy_ the Legendary Guardian."

"No.." I breathed.

"I won't kill him, at least at first. I'll just play with his mind and make it so that he _wishes_ he was dead... And you'll be forced to stand and watch the big, powerful, Sir Auron, fall to his knees and beg for me to kill him."

"He... That would be _pointless_, because he means nothing to me," I whispered as Seymour let me go and I slid into a pile on the floor. I stared up at him from the cold dirty tile, my eyes breathing green fire. "Nothing, you hear? I don't care what you do, he means _NOTHING_."

I was lying, straight through my teeth, and I could feel my heart rip into pieces. If Seymour laid one of his disgusting fingers on him, I would tear the Maester to shreds. That simple. But as long as Seymour didn't think I cared for him, he would leave Auron alone. Please, please, let him leave Auron alone.

"Your answer, _princess._"

"Give me time..." I whispered. "I need time to consider your amazing offer, my lord."

"I will be leaving tonight for the Macalania Temple. I'll give your party a good reason to stop there, but when you reach the temple, _you must have an answer_. Understood?"

"Yes..." I breathed. "I understand perfectly. You _will_ have your answer. I give you my word."

"Very well. It was a pleasure meeting you, bnehlacc," he chuckled as he unlocked the door and slid out of the washroom, leaving me broken in pieces on the floor.

I was crushed on the ground for what seemed like hours, broken, unable to make myself rise up. I knew what I needed to do, and I could feel myself start to sob into my hands, my dress becoming wet and rumpled underneath me. I was bawling, sucking in my breath and crying with everything in me, barely able to breath, wanting to scream.

And this was how Auron found me.

"Oh, Rikku..." he breathed as he came through the door, locking it behind him. But this time the click wasn't menacing, it was beautiful, and I opened up my arms and he came crashing into them. I clung onto him with all of my strength, and cried and cried and cried, tears coming out in buckets due to my scare.

And, due to what I knew I had to do.

He stroked my back, and ran his fingers through my crusty hair, murmuring words of love and grace and beauty to me. And I smiled through my tears at his antics, and realized how thankful I was to have him here with me, if it was only for a few minutes.

But when he broke away, he noticed the bruises and scratches starting to form down my face and arms. Fury jumped into his expression in a split second, and I almost started crying all over again.

"Rikku... What the hell happened?"

"He found me," I sniffed. "...and now we have a problem."

"Seymour did this?!" he growled, tracing the marks with his fingers, healing them without even intending to.

"Yes he did, but that's not really the problem."

"He knows who you are... He knows... He tried to kill you, didn't he?"

"No, he has better plans than that, but they're all pretty much on the killing frame of mind," I said, a bit sarcastically, feeling myself start to get upset again. "Pretty much, either I give up my family and they die, or I give up you guys, and you guys die, or I become a slave, and no one dies."

"No..." he sucked in his breath, staring me in the eyes. "You refused, correct?"

"If I refused, then, well... Something horrible would happen, and I _can't let it happen,_ understand?"

"What would happen, Rikku? Tell me, I need to know."

"NO!" I screamed, as I pushed him off of me and stood up in a flurry of dress fabric and cookie crumbs. "Auron, you have to understand something. I asked for time, and that's all that he was willing to give. But, _us..._ me and you... We can't do this!"

"No, Rikku, don't do something you're going to regret," he stood up quickly, and tried to hold me again.

I pushed him away. "Go. Get away from me."

"Please, no, Rikku, don't do this. I don't know what he said to you, but I'll protect you, understand? I'll won't let anything happen to you!"

I turned away from him, refusing to see the pain in his eye, because I knew if I saw that my resolve would break. "I don't need your protection, _Sir_ Auron. And I don't need you."

He froze at my words, and I looked him straight in the eye, and read the pain and sorrow and everything that I was doing to him. But it was only for a split second before he covered his face with indifference and I nearly died from the pain. I couldn't believe that I was doing this to him, but I HAD to.

"Very well, Rikku. Your summoner is waiting in the hall for you. Don't waste her precious time," he said, voice dripping with ice, and I could feel myself start to lose it. Then, without a second look, he turned away from me and walked quickly out of the door.

The click of the door behind him, this time, was the sound of my heart splitting into a billion pieces.


	13. One Last Indulgence

_I feel I must interject here  
__You're getting carried away  
__Feeling sorry for yourself  
__With these revisions and gaps in history  
__So let me help you remember  
__I've made charts and graphs  
__That should finally make it clear  
__I've prepared a lecture on why I have to leave  
__So please back away and let me go_

**-"Nothing Better" **by the Postal Service

There's nothing worse in life than that exact moment in time where you realize your situation is hopeless. And that point was exactly where I was, reaching for the closed door, begging silently for Auron to please, please please, _not _listen to me. But I knew what I had to do, as painful as it was. It would save us all, in the end.

And I also realize that my situation was starting to sound a lot like Yunie's, full of self sacrifice and saving the world. Honestly, I would almost rather have her situation than mine.

I have three doors, with three choices behind them. And all of the choices suck.

I could have laid on the ground and cried my eyes out, but I knew better. If I stayed any longer than a few minutes in that washroom, Yunie and the rest of them would come after me. So, I stood up, did my best at brushing off my ruined dress, and bravely stepped out into the hallway. I walked silently with my head held high over to the doorway of the Great Hall, took a deep breath, and walked in.

And stepped into the streets of the ancient city of Zanarkand.

How did I know that I stepped there, in that very place? Maybe it was the light in Tidus' eyes, the spark of recognition, the wonder in everyone elses. Zanarkand was the city of machina, technology that the Al Bhed only dream of, built of sweat, metal, love, and blood, destroyed by Sin a thousand years ago.

I reached out to touch a wall, but my hand passed through it. "A hologram..." I murmured.

The Maester heard my voice from behind the group, and turned to face me. "Very good, Rikku. This is a hologram, of the ancient city of the North."

"It's Zanarkand!" Tidus said excitedly. Honestly, I would be excited if I were him too. He was seeing his very own version of Home, somewhere he could never return. I will never understand how Tidus reached this point in time, but at the moment, I had absolutly every bit of faith that he really WAS from a thousand years past, like he said when we first met.

"Yes, it is. And this was the place where _she_ lived..." Seymour added, smiling slyly.

A grunt from Auron shocked me out of my wonder, and I glanced over at him. He didn't turn, wouldn't even look in my direction. It made me want to bawl all over again, but I had to be strong. As long as I was strong, he would be safe. I wasn't going to sacrifice him for my happiness.

"Who?" everyone asked.

"Yunalesca. You're named for her, Yuna."

Yunie stood up a little higher and glared at him. "My father named me."

"And you were named for the greatest summoner of all time. He must have known that you would follow in her glorious footsteps."

Now Auron was glaring. Death glare, really, and if it could, it would have been burning a hole in the side of Seymour's skull. Being that I crunched any hope of us ever having a future a few minutes ago because of Seymour, I hoped it was because of that. But, I had an odd feeling that it wasn't because of me at all, it was because of something else... Something that Seymour was talking about.

The Maester was blah-blahing about "the greatest love of all time", or something along those lines, as the holograms of Yunalesca and her guardian crossed the room in front of us to hug. The picture of them made me want to run out of the room screaming all the way back Home, where the sand could sop up my tears and I could finally forget about everything, but that was never going to happen. Then, Seymour whispered something in Yunie's ear.

She gasped out loud, and stared at him like he was insane. Then, she _ran_ back over to the table to get a glass of water, and gulped the whole thing at once. The rest of us looked at her in shock.

"What happened?" Lulu asked curiously.

"He... He asked me to marry him!" Yuna hissed out, being painfully obvious in her discomfort.

I slapped my hand to my forehead, turning away from the rest of the group. "Great..." I mumbled. "Now we _have _to see him again."

Seymour smiled sinisterly at me from his standing point in the room, and Auron looked between us both and stomped forward, anger clearly written all over his face. "You know what Yuna must do?" he growled.

"Of course. This would be a marriage for the Spira, to distract the people from Sin's devistation, not a marriage of love."

"Then what's the point, ya?" Wakka mumbled.

"The people of Spira are not meant to be played with," Auron said, practically breathing fire. "Marriage is not a game!"

"Wait!" Yuna held up her hands between Seymour and Auron, who were both inching closer to each other, ready to fight at a moments notice. "I need time, Seymour. I shall go speak to my parents in the Farplane, and then come back to give you my answer."

"Very well. I expect your answer promptly, Lady Yuna," he stated simply as he bowed. The rest of the group started to make their way out of the room, but then he said, "Why are you here still?"

I turned suddenly, trying to figure out who he was looking at. Then, I realized Auron and Seymour were staring each other down, both ready to pounce at a moments notice. "I don't understand what you mean, Maester."

"Nice try, Sir Auron. Guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane."

I started running towards them before I even knew where my feet were carrying me. When I finally stopped, I found myself standing just behind Auron, watching his face contort with a fury so great I was afraid to even be near him. But, then I remembered... Auron would never hurt me. I was safe to do what I needed to do.

"That's enough," I whispered, moving myself in between the two men, arms spread backward in front of Auron, protecting him with my small frame. "You have what you need, Seymour. Stop trying to torment others with your lies."

"I would never lie about something like this, princess. Ask the Legendary Guardian himself."

I didn't even look at Auron, but I moved closer to Seymour, talking low enough that only he could hear me. "Stop. We're coming back, and you will get your answer, so don't bring him into this! This is between me and you, not him."

He nodded slightly, and I turned away from him, motioning the rest of them to come with me. We were held up for a minute, because Tidus just _had _to run and smell Auron. Why? He wanted to know what the Farplane smelled like. Luckily, Auron smacked him out of the way and we kept walking.

We walked in silence through the streets of the city, immune to the sights and smells of it all. Finally, we reached the small path upwards, towards the gates of the Farplane. There were quite a few steps, and I plopped my dirty self right down on one of them.

Tidus made his way over to me, looking nervous. "What... is this? You see dead people?"

I forced out a laugh. "Not quite. You just see a hologram of them, but some people find comfort in it. You could see if your dad is in there, Tidus."

"Hopefully he is," Tidus replied bitterly. He started up the stairs, but noticed that I wasn't moving. "Wait, aren't you going?"

I sighed, looking over my shoulder at him, my hands playing with each other on my lap. "Those are just memories, Tidus. And memories are nice, but that's all they are. I would rather keep my memories inside my head."

He nodded, looking a bit confused, and then continued up the stairs with the rest of the group. Or, at least, I thought it was the rest of the group until a few minutes later, I looked up at the gates of the Farplane again, and saw Auron sitting on a step a few rows up, staring at me.

I turned away, feeling tears fill my eyes, and I shook my head quickly. "Why didn't you go with them?" I asked quietly.

"I don't belong there, Rikku. And if you had any sense at all, you would know why," he glared.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped, standing up and stomping my way towards him. "You have no reason to act like this towards me, Auron. None. So, get a grip." Okay, maybe he did have a reason to get mad at me. But he didn't know my reasons either! If he did, he would be singing a completely different tune right now.

"No reason?" he growled back, standing up to his full height, making me feel afraid for a moment. Maybe I pushed him too far this time... "You're unbelievable! Princess or not, you had no right to do what you did to me."

Blushing, I felt my head drop in shame. He was right, and I knew it. I felt myself grow weak, and I almost told him exactly what was going on, but then I remembered the situation. If I cared for Auron, he would be destroyed, and I wasn't _ever_ going to let that happen. "You don't understand the situation, Sir Auron. I did what I had to do, given the circumstances."

"You're just going to let Seymour scare you into this, aren't you? You're not going to fight for what you want?"

"You don't know what I want, Auron."

He took my chin in his hand, lifting so I would look into his face. "You wanted the man who smelled like _it_, Rikku. You wanted to spin circles and bake cookies and be with him."

"How did you..." I whispered. He shook his head, and I could feel tears fill my eyes as I looked in his face, and they started to fall down my cheeks. He brushed them away, and kept talking, breaking what little of what was left of my heart with every word he said.

"And here I am. I _am_ that man, and you're walking away. I'm not sure why, it could be because I am the man and you were expecting someone else, someone better than me. Is that why?"

"N... No... No..." I started to sob. He was all I wanted, and he was making it so hard for me to leave. I knew I had to walk away, I knew I had the facts behind me, but he kept holding onto me, and I couldn't break that touch for anything. One last indulgence, one last touch, and then I would go.

"In that case, I have no idea why you're doing this to us. But I know you're scared of something, because that's the only reason why you would run like this. And if you're running away from us, then you are definately the coward that you said you are."

I shook my head frantically, feeling the tears fall faster. "No... No, I'm not... No..."

"And I'm disappointed in you."

At this point, I was hysterical. I looked at his face, and I was gulping and choking on his last words, trying to find something in me to protest it. Instead, I did the one thing that I shouldn't have.

I reached for him. "Auron, please..."

And he stepped back, away from me. "No, Rikku."

I stopped, my head outstretched, face frozen in agony, just praying that he wouldn't deny me this one last indulgence, the last thing I needed before I became strong again.

But, he just shook his head at me. "Go."

One last look in my eyes told me what I needed to know. I spun away, pulled up my skirt, and flew down the stairs. I needed to run as fast and as far away as I could go, so that maybe, one day, I could erase the disappointment, sadness, and betrayal in his eyes.

**AN: I found a good spot in this story, where I finally know where I want to go before I get there. Expect alot more fights, heartbreak, and all of that jazz in this story, because with these two, they can't easily let go.  
****Did I mention I don't own FFX yet? lol, I don't think so. So I'm saying it once and never saying it again.  
Thank you reviewers, yet again, for your wonderful response on the last chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one just as much.**


	14. Big Bad Lightning

_This space between us  
Where wingless dreams fall earless  
__Will you not bear we witness?  
__With your back to me now  
__It seems so unnerving  
__Still somehow deserving  
__That she could hold my heart so tightly  
__And still not see me here_

**-"Sleep To Dream Her" **by Dave Matthews Band

I stood silently at the gates to the Thunder Plains, wishing that I could just go home.

"Rikku, why did you leave?" Yuna ran up to me, calling, her voice clashing with the loud crashes of thunder. I winced at each crash, gazing up at the sky from under the small roof I was sitting under.

"Seymour went to Macalania Temple," I said simply, "And I was waiting for you to finish up in the Farplane."

"In that case, it's time to go," I heard Auron's voice come from behind me. He stepped ahead of me, not even giving me a glance, staring up at the sky. I could feel my eyes start to dig holes into the back of his head, and before he turned, I looked away.

"Everyone ready?" Lulu asked calmly.

I looked up at the sky again, and felt my heart clench. It was no secret that thunder and lightning was my worst fear in the world, and I didn't know if I could really take the whole "Let's hop about and get electrocuted" thing that happens in the Thunder Plains. And lets face it, as much as I hated Guadosalam, it was ten billion times better than going on this little death adventure.

"Uh..." I said, glancing back behind me, "Guys? I think I left something behind in Guadosalam."

Auron looked back, indifference covering his face. "Nice knowing you."

I sucked in my breath quickly, stopping the tears that sprung up to my face. I stared him down for a moment, but his face remained expressionless. Finally, I gave in. "Fine, fine! I'll go."

We made our way slowly, going from tower to tower, and I became more jumpy by the minute. Tidus, of course, was living up the excitement of near death by standing out in the open, then jumping when the lightning struck his spot. Yeah, the kid was stupid, definately, but there wasn't much the rest of us could do to stop him.

And every single time we reached a new tower, I would cling to it, willing someone, anyone, to save me. "Come on, Rikku," Lulu pried me away from the tower and nudged me out in the open. I froze in my spot, freaking out, and couldn't move. Suddenly, lightning lit up the entire sky again, and I dropped to my knees in the middle of the muddy ground, covering my head with my hands.

Tidus was only a few feet away, so I did the only thing that I could think of under the circumstances. I scurried across the ground over to him, and clung to his leg. "Uh, Rikku?"

I started nervously laughing, and I'm sure it creeped everyone out. "Heh...heh... heh heh heh..."

"Rikku, you're scaring me, what's wrong?" he asked, attempting to pull me up from his leg, but I was NOT budging.

I lifted up my head and opened up my eyes to speak when another flash lit up the sky, and a loud boom rattled my ears. "EEEEEEK!!!" I screamed, covering my ears and hunching into a little ball. Rain pelted my back, but I wasn't exactly concerned about the water situation, considering I was afraid for my life.

"Rikku, we're almost done, I swear. Just over this hill..." Yuna started.

"And across a hundred billion kazillion more miles of death land! I can't do this anymore! Please, please, can we just stop for a minute?" I glanced up quickly and spotted an inn just on the top of the hill. "THERE! Can we please go there? Only for a little while, until the storm stops a bit."

"The storm will never stop." My hair prickled on my neck when Auron spoke in that tone of voice, the tone that clearly said he wasn't going to take any more crap from me, but I needed this! I really did! And I needed him to help me. I looked over at him and pleadingly fluttered my eyelashes, ignoring the fact that I wasn't supposed to be paying any attention to him at the moment. "No Rikku, we're not stopping," he added.

"Please?" I said, raising to my feet as they all started walking away. "Come on, please?" Tidus started to stall a bit, but Auron grabbed his sleeve and kept pulling him along. "I'm no use when I'm scared! Come on, someone, anyone? You would do this to me? Your moms would be ashamed of you! Please please please! EEEEEEEK!!!" I screamed again as I hit the ground, directly in the biggest sopping wet mud puddle that I could find.

Auron turned a bit and looked at me, cowering on the ground. I knew I looked pathetic, but sometimes a girl has gotta do what a girl has gotta do, and in order for a break I definatly had to be at my lowest. "Fine. She's worse than the storm."

The rest of the group giggled a bit, but I stared him down, feeling my anger rise up a bit. Everyone started filing into the inn, and when I started to go in there, I felt a hand pulling me back. I turned, sighing, "Auron, what?"

"What was that all about?" he said angerly. "If you don't want me, fine, but don't use yourself against me. It's disrespectful and I _refuse_ to let this go any further."

"You don't understand! When I was little, my brother and I..."

"I understand perfectly," he cut me off. "You don't want to have anything to do with me until you need me to save you from something, or you need me to do something for you. Well, that's it, I'm done. This is your last favor, princess, so use it wisely."

Feeling myself burst inside, I started to blow up at him, "I don't need your favors, Auron! I need..."

"What? What is it that you need, princess? Someone to bake you cookies? Someone to save you from the big, bad lightning? Oh please, dear princess, tell me. Your wish is my comand," he said dryly, mocking me with the tone in his voice and the look in his eye.

My heart was in a tangle of knots in my chest. Of course, he didn't get it, I didn't exactly give him a chance to, but that didn't mean that he had to mock me about it. The lightning crashed and the thunder boomed behind my head, but I barely paid any attention to it. "You... You don't understand, Auron. So don't even try," I said slowly, attempting to calm myself down. But tears filled my eyes anyway, and I gulped quickly, scared for my life and still willing to stand out here and argue my point with him.

"You're right, Rikku, I don't understand. But honestly, at this point, I doubt it would even be worth my time to try," he said turning away, but I reached out and grabbed his sleeve, not able to hold myself back.

"You don't get me at all, do you?" I screamed, clutching my hands to my chest. "You claim all of these wonderful things, Auron, about protection and love and wonder, but where are you when I need you? Where _were_ you when I needed you? When I needed protection? You were no where to be found, so don't even start your shit with me. I had to sit there and take everything that was being thrown at me, and you know what? I would do it all over again, because I _had to._ It's my job, Auron, and you don't seem to understand that. I have a job to protect my family and to protect my friends, and I'm sorry that I can't be perfect, and I'm sorry that you can't seem to understand me and take me as I am, but it's just something that I..."

"Wait."

I stopped, sopping wet from the storm, and waited. I held my hands in place, trying to hold myself in, and I instantly started to regret every word that I said. I wasn't very good at the whole "covering up my emotions" thing, and if was really as smart as I claim to be most days, I should have never even went near him again. "What?" I whispered.

His eye seemed to bore a hole in my brain, but I held his gaze. My hair was loose, dripping down my face, my clothes clung to me everywhere, and my shoes were filled up with mud, but I still stood still and held his gaze. He opened up his mouth to say a word, but just as he did, the door cracked open.

"Rikku, are you coming? You're going to get electrocuted out there!" Lulu exclaimed.

I looked back at him and shrugged my shoulders, then filed past him into the inn.


	15. Delicate and Beautiful

_Hoping for the best, just hoping nothing happens  
__A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins  
__I won't ask if you don't ever tell me  
__I know you well enough to know you never loved me  
__Why can't I feel anything from anyone other than you?  
__I stay wrecked and jealous for this-  
__For this simple reason I...  
__Just need to keep you in mind  
__As something larger than life_

**-"Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)" **by Taking Back Sunday

I huddled under a chair, cuddling my legs to my chest, tears trickling down my cheeks. Luckily for me, the rest of the group thought that I was crying because I was scared, but it was really so much more than that. Mr. Thinks-He-Knows-Everything was standing across the room from me, and all I could see was the rough toes of his boots. But, unfortunatly for me, just something simple like that made me cry even harder.

"Rikku?" I heard Tidus call from above me, his feet twirling in every direction as he turned to find me.

"She's under there, ya? Can you try to help her? She seems pretty upset," Wakka said, pointing his toes in my direction. Tidus quickly kneeled and looked under the table. I wiped my eyes quickly and tried not to look quite as pathetic, but I know it didn't work.

His face crumbled at the sight of me. "Oh, Rikku, are you really that scared?" he asked, reaching under to give me a hug. I kept it brief but was thankful for the gesture just the same, and I smiled gratefully at him when he broke away.

"Yeah, I..." the thunder clashed again and I jumped, hitting the top of my head on the table, "... hate it."

"Why? What happened to make you so scared?"

I started to speak loudly, realising that Auron's boots turned in our direction and he was listening. "When I was a little kid, Brother and I were playing down at the beach, and I was swimming. But then, out of _nowhere_ a water fiend showed up and grabbed me! Brother just started getting into magic then, and he cast Thunder at the fiend, but missed the fiend and hit me!" I shuddered from thinking about it, and Tidus nodded apologetically.

"Oh, I see," he said loudly, then he leaned in farther and started whispering. "What's up with you and Auron? He looks like he's about to spit flames."

"Uh, what are you talking about?" I sniffed, not looking at him. He paused, and I knew that he knew that I was lying. Finally, after he sat there in silence for a minute, I whispered, "I would tell you, but I can't. But eventually you'll figure it out."

He nodded, and then slid out from under the table. I heard him above me talking to Wakka in the most fake cheerful voice that I've ever heard, "I did the best that I could do. Someone elses turn!"

"No more turns," Auron said sternly. "It's time for bed, since we have an early start tomorrow. Get to your rooms."

"How come he gets to choose the bedtime?" Wakka grumbled to Tidus as they walked away down the hallway. I could hear their conversation fade away the farther they went, and finally it was just me huddled under the table, a hotel worker at the desk, and Auron leaning against a wall a few feet away. We stayed silently in our positions for what seemed like hours, until finally the hotel worker spoke.

"Sir Auron, it's getting late and I must go to sleep. Can you make sure that the door is locked when you go to bed?" she asked, her voice having a nice melodic ring to it.

"Of course."

"Thank you very much! Have a lovely evening," she said as her boots clicked past the table I was under. I watched her step up on her tippy toes, and with a soft sound, most of the light disappeared from the room, except for a small lamp on top of the table I was under. I saw flickers and flashes of light above me, and I whimpered pitifully with every single one. I knew I had a room somewhere, but there was no way that I was getting out from underneath this table to go find it, especially in the dark. I was just going to lean myself up against one of the legs and sleep there.

Of course, that was very, very, VERY uncomfortable. I tried a bunch of different sleeping positions, but finally I just curled myself into a little ball and tipped over onto the floor. My body made a small sound when I did this, but I thought it went unnoticed.

How stupid of me. Mr. Wonderful may not be able to see very well, but he sure can hear.

"Rikku, go to bed," he grumbled quietly from his little station across the room.

"You go to bed," I grumbled back. "I'm staying right here."

"You're going to sleep under the table?" he asked stupidly. "You can't do that."

"Watch me, meaniepants. I can do whatever I want."

He sighed with exasperation, but I was serious. There was no way in shanaynay that Auron was going to pry me out from under this table and out into the open. No, no, no. "You have a comfortable bed, Rikku, in a hotel room where the lightning cannot reach you. It's pointless to sleep like this when you won't have too many other chances to be comfortable later in the pilgrimage."

"That's not your problem, Auron. Besides, if you're so worried about being comfortable, you go sleep in your soft and fluffy bed, and leave me alone," I yawned. "It isn't like I'm going to end up sleeping anyway."

I heard a noise, looked up from my uncomfortable position, and met his eye. "Come on, Rikku," he said quietly. "I'll walk you to bed."

The lightning flickered through the window and highlighted the tender look on his face. I let my knees drop away from my chest and smiled shakily. "I'm not sure I can even walk at this point, but maybe I'll be able to in a few minutes... hours... days? I.. I don't know," I whispered, jumping a bit at another flash. "I hope that I can at least sleep a little bit tonight."

He nodded, smiled, and started to slide further under the table. I scootched back a bit, making room for him, not thinking of my pact to myself to keep him away. He reached his arm around me and held me close, our chests rising and falling in a rhythm that only we could keep. The lightning flickered around us, but I felt calmer, and only jumped a bit every time.

"W.. We can't make a habit of this, you know," I whispered as I clutched his arm closer to me. I played with his fingers as he played with my hair, and we sat comfortably together, without any of the malice that we had before. What had changed? I didn't understand, but I didn't want it to stop either.

"I know, princess, I know... You were right."

"About?" I asked absentmindedly, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

"I wasn't there when you needed me..." he whispered quietly, shocking me with his words. I turned and opened my mouth to speak, but he put his finger to my lips and shushed me. Then, he continued, "I don't expect you to be perfect, Rikku, especially since I'm so far from perfection that it's amazing. And I can understand why you can't exactly trust me at this point, considering you needed me and I wasn't there. But," he said, his eye pleading with me in the darkness, "please believe me when I say that I'm going to protect you, regardless of what happens at this point. I know there is something much bigger than you and I in the works and there isn't much that either of us can do to stop it, but I'm still here for you, princess, whenever you need me."

I could feel tears sting my eyes again, and I sucked in my breath quickly, trying to catch my bearings. I stared at his face for a long time, and he stared back, content with each other exactly how we were. I almost felt as if he was really seeing me for the very first time. "Why do you still call me princess?" I asked quietly.

He smiled through the shadows at me, and I felt the butterflies come back into my stomach again. "Because you're delicate and beautiful, yet strong and stubborn, and even if you never told me that you were one, I still would think of you as _my_ princess."

The tears spilled over at that point, and I threw myself into his arms all the way again. I felt his hands clutch me to his chest, and I held on tightly to his coat, sobbing into him, soaking his clothes. We stayed that way for awhile, me crying, him holding on and mumbling words of comfort to me, until I finally pulled back.

"I wish I could tell you everything," I whispered tearfully.

"All in due time, princess. I'm sure you'll tell me everything when you need to," he whispered back, faith in me shining in his expression.

An understanding took place in our eyes, and I nodded, realizing everything. Then, I leaned back into him, until my drowsy body finally took control of my frightful mind and let me drift off to sleep.


	16. Aggravation

**AN: Okay, now is probably the time for me to explain how I write this story. I read the chapter previous to each chapter I'm writing at the time, and then go from there. Honestly, I have no idea where my story is going from one day to the next, and that keeps up all of the fun. But of course, that also equals problems, like me having to rewrite the second half of this chapter due to me putting everything that happened in Chapter 12 in this one, because I simply didn't remember what I did. Whoopsy. Stupid me. But hopefully you'll like this version better!**

_And if I jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge,  
Tell me would you still follow me  
And if I made you mad today,  
Tell me would you love me tomorrow? Please  
Or would you say that you don't care  
And leave me standing here  
Like the fool who is drowning in  
Despair and screamin_

**"So I Need You" **by 3 Doors Down

The room was still dark when I woke up that morning.

Or, I guess it was morning. Most people can't figure out the time in the Thunder Plains, and I can see why, considering you can't see the light at ALL. Honestly though, I've never been even remotely _concerned_ about what time it is, no matter where I happen to be at the time. I've just felt like, since I spend my time doing nothing but playing with machina anyway, what's the point? I start wrenching when I wake up and I stop when I feel sleepy.

Well, at least, that's what I _used_ to do, before I started following Yunie on this stupid pilgrimage.

I turned onto my side, then stopped. Where... Where was the table leg that I fell asleep against? I felt a soft blanket curled up around my feet, and there was a certain _strange_ looking arm nestled around me. Oh... my... GOODNESS.

"Good morning" I heard _him _say gruffly. "How did you sleep, princess"

"Please let me dreaming..." I mumbled as I shifted back onto my other side, now staring directly into the face of Sir Auron the Almighty himself. "And I am _so_ not dreaming... Auron, why am I here"

His face lost the pleasant morning look that so few people happen to have this early, me included. "What do you mean, why are you here? You fell asleep last night under the table, I walked you to your room, and you asked me to stay."

My mouth dropped open, and my mind started spinning so fast I could hardly keep up. I jumped out of the covers, silently thanking everyone from my Pops to Sin itself that I was still dressed, and stood on top of the bed, staring down at him. "I _asked_ you to _stay_? And you _listened_? Whatever happened to"Rikku, don't take advantage of me" and everything else you decided to scream at me yesterday"

"Lower your voice" he growled, sitting up. Luckily, he was also still clothed, in those curious black pajamas that I noticed earlier in the trip. I forced myself to stop staring at his chest, and directed my gaze to another problem area, which happened to be his face. His eye was dark and bottomless, and I could see the anger starting to form behind it.

"I _can't_ lower my voice, Auron! Don't you understand? I thought you understood that we _cannot _be together. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this, okay? _WE,_ as in you and me, _CANNOT BE!_"

"_Stop_" he said dangerously, rising to his feet. "You were just fine with being with me last night, when you were scared of the storm, but now, the morning after, you can't even look at me without throwing me away? What is WRONG with you"

"Okay, first of all, Auron, there is nothing wrong with me, especially considering that I am in... Well, I'm in way to deep for myself at this point." We both paused for a minute, breathing hard and staring eye to eye, me standing on top of the bed and him standing on the floor. "But that fact doesn't change anything, at all! I still have to..." I stopped myself before I blurted out my secret.

Finally, he burst out laughing. Not that it was a fun-loving, let's be jolly and dance kind of laughter, mind you. This laughter was full of sarcasm and pain. "You are something else, Rikku. You're manipulative and ridiculous, and I refuse to be a pawn in your game. The second I step out of this room, _we are done_. It's time you learned the consequences of your actions." He turned away and started towards the door.

"But..." I felt the word catch in my throat.

"Goodbye, Rikku..." he said with his hand on the door.

"Wait" I screamed, jumping off of the bed. But instead of landing gracefully on my feet, like I intended, I instead landed on my knees, sliding to a halt directly in front of him. "You can't go, Auron, please don't go. You don't have any idea what I'm going through right now"

He sighed with exasperation and looked down at me. "You're going through the same exact thing that all silly teenagers seem to go through. A period of thinking that everyone cares about your little melodramatic situations. Tidus went through the same exact thing."

"You... are... so... freaking... AGGRIVATING" I screamed. "How dare you say that? How dare you even _think_ that" I stood up in a flurry of whipping hair and tangled up pajama fabric, and nearly fell down all over again. Putting my hands on my hips, I straightened to my full height, but it didn't even compare to Mr. Wonderful's tallness. "I thought we already went over this. What part of WE CANNOT BE TOGETHER don't you understand"

"And what part of YOU'RE BEING RIDICULOUS don't you understand" Auron exploded right back, his eye showing every bit of fury within him.

Holy crap. I finally hit the last nerve. We both stared at each other, breathing hard, neither moving for a few moments. Finally, I spoke, my temper coming back up again. "What... the hell... is that supposed to mean" I whispered angerly.

"Seymore told you he was going to make you a _slave_, Rikku. _His_ _slave_. And I honestly don't think you really understand what he meant by that" his voice taking on the same exact hushed quality that mine had, only he seemed defeated in a way. Touching the tip of his katana to the ground, he lowered himself to the floor, sitting up against the cracked wall.

I lowered to my knees in front of him, staring directly into his face. "Of course I understand" I sighed.

"Then why didn't you just tell him you wouldn't and be done? It would have made this much easier for you."

"Because he probably would have killed me right then" I sighed. "I didn't really have much of a choice, at the time, you know. Time seemed like a good thing to ask for. Can you blame me"

"Yuna is under the impression that his marriage proposal is real" he added, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, that" I laughed slightly. "He's just searching for a reason to make sure I HAD to go to Macalania temple. As if I could have run away..."

"The thought of you giving up your people or your summoner is simply ridiculous. How could he possibly think that it was going to happen" he asked seriously, forehead wrinkled slightly with a bit of confusion.

"The thought of me being a slave is simply ridiculous too, but it sure didn't stop him from demanding it."

"And it won't stop you from doing it either" he said simply, the lines in his face becoming more drawn as the minutes passed. I looked at him in shock, and he shook his head slightly, stopping me from speaking. "No, don't bother, Rikku, I already knew. But I just have to know one thing... How are you going to be able to walk into Macalania with your head held high, knowing what you're about to sign up for"

"The alternative is impossible."

"No..." he whispered. "Death is preferable to torture, little Rikku, in some very rare instances, and this is one of them."

I stared him down for a moment, silently deciding how much was necessary to tell him without giving the entire thing away. "That may be, but is torture of another person preferable to my own"

He closed his eye, leaned his head against the wall, and took a deep breath. "It depends on whether or not they're more prepared to take it than you, princess." He reached for me, and I took his hand in mine, tracing small patterns along the top of his hand with my fingertips.

"They could take it, but I _refuse_ to let them" I whispered harshly. "Absolutely refuse."

We stared at each other for a few more minutes, our hands connecting us together, but nothing else touching. Time stood still, and for once, the weather outside the window of our room was tame enough for me not to panic. Our eyes continued to search for something deep inside ourselves, and after what seemed like hours, he finally spoke again.

"Why won't you tell me who you're protecting? I could help you... help them... Protect someone... You don't have to take on this burden alone, princess." His eye were hopeful as he gazed at my face, and it broke my heart to witness.

That was my exit cue, I knew, and I picked myself up, brushing off my knees. "I wish I could..." I sighed. "But, it's simply impossible. This is something that I have to do alone."

I turned to the door, my hand resting gently against the bronze doorknob, waiting for any response from him. Somehow though, I knew there wouldn't be one. Finally after pausing for a few moments, I twisted the metal beneath my fingers and slid out of the room into the hallway. I tiptoed down the hallway past the rest of the rooms that we rented for the night, and made my way to the washroom. And finally, once I stepped in, turned around, and locked the door behind me, I did the one thing that I needed to do more than ever.

I slid onto the floor, curled into a little ball, and started to cry.


	17. 7:03 AM

_This is fact not fiction for the first time in years  
__All the girls in every girlie magazine can't make me feel  
__Any less alone  
__I'm reaching for the phone  
__To call at 7:03 and on your machine,  
__I slur a plea for you to come home  
__But I know it's too late,  
__and I should have given you a reason to stay  
__Given you a reason to stay_

_-_**"A Lack Of Color" **by Death Cab For Cutie

The black sky made me nervous.

I stood out in front of the inn, shaking slightly, jumping a bit every time the lightning struck the ground in front of me. I didn't remember the trip from the bathroom to the front door, but I hoped that I had made it quietly, due to how early it was.

7:03 AM. How is it that life always seems to shatter just before breakfast hits the table? I'm sure I could have taken everything better if I had more than a few stale cookies settled in my stomach, but nothing ever seems to go wrong when it's convienent for me.

Luckily, no one else was up but Auron and I, and he didn't want to talk to me anyway. Maybe a few minutes of peace and quiet was all I would need.

"Good morning."

I jumped slightly at the sound of the voice, and turned to find Tidus clicking the door quietly behind him. "Whew..." I breathed. "You scared me, you meanie!"

He started playing with his messy blonde hair, looking sheepish. "Sorry about that."

"No problem... And good morning to you too!" I laughed nervously, glancing back up at the sky. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than you, I bet. Did Aurie Warie Poo protect you last night?" I glared at him, and he burst out laughing. "Sorry Rikku, I couldn't help myself."

"For your information, we aren't exactly speaking at the moment," I grumbled, jumping again at another flash of lightning.

"I know," he said, much to my surprise. I turned to face him, and the corners of his mouth turned up a bit. "You act like I haven't known the guy for the past ten years," he added. "You've been pouting, and he's been more grouchy than usual. It's pretty obvious, you know."

"Define pouting."

"Standing out in the middle of the storm when you're afraid of thunder, simply because you're too stubborn to go in there and tell him the truth."

I turned slowly, in shock at his words. "The truth, Tidus? What do you know about the truth?"

His eyes told stories of secrets he wasn't supposed to know. "I know everything, Rikku. Everything."

"Everything?" I gasped, backing away from him. Backed up one, two, three steps until I hit the door to the inn.

"Yuna sent me to check on you and Auron, but by the time I got there, Auron was hustling down the hallway and Seymour already locked the door behind him," he said, his eyes clouding over with guilt. I could tell that he already beat himself up over the situation over and over while I was too busy flipping out over the weather.

"Oh, Tidus..." I whispered, pulling him into a quick hug. "I'm sorry you had to hear all of that."

"I'm sorry you even have to _deal_ with it, Rikku," he mumbled into my hair before pulling away. "But, on top of Seymour being an asshole, we have more problems."

I clasped my hands behind my back and squeezed, as an unconcious effort to stay calm. "Define problems."

"When we came out of the Farplane, the ghost of Seymour's dad was waiting for us. And of course, Auron was too busy being pissed off at you to even notice him," he said, sounding very annoyed. Then, his expression changed slightly, into one of concern. "Yuna sent him, but now it seems like she's worrying more than usual."

"Wasn't he sent before?" I asked, confused. "And why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

"We didn't tell you because you were flipping out. And Auron said something about an 'unclean death', so maybe our good ol' Maester..."

"... Killed his own dad," I interrupted, everything becoming clear for me. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"And neither would I," he said, nodding in agreement.

We were both silent for a few minutes, standing next to each other, staring blankly at the sky. The flashes of lightning were barely registering with me, even though I knew I should be 'flipping out', as Tidus so nicely put it. Why was it that something once so scary was now unimportant? I have no idea, but that's how things seemed to be working out. I almost wished that I could find it in me to be more afraid of the storm, that way I didn't have to think so much about everything.

"You don't think she's really going to marry him, do you?" his voice, hushed, traveled out into the air, only to be swept away by the wind. I barely heard his question, but I knew the reasons behind it, and it made me smile and feel incredibly sad at the same time.

"The marriage can't be real, sweetie. He only asked so that we wouldn't skip the temple," I said without moving any part of me to look at him. For some reason, his pain was too much for me to bear.

He nodded slightly, but I knew he didn't believe me. And honestly, who would? I had no idea what Yunie was thinking at the moment, in fact, I barely knew what _I_ was thinking at the moment. My mind was travelling so fast that it was hard to stand still without becoming dizzy.

The door clicked open behind me, and the five other members to our makeshift party filed out slowly. "Are you ready, you two?" Lulu asked calmly.

"They better be," Auron said gruffly. I knew he was staring at me when he said it, but I refused to look at him. In fact, I refused to move at all. My soaked hair was stringy and blowing in the wind, and my expression barely changed from the moment Tidus and I had stopped talking.

"Rikku?" Yunie moved next to me, her concern apparent in her voice. "Are you ready to move on?"

"I wish we could stay longer..." I whispered without thinking. The second the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to yank them back on a little string. What was I thinking? Staying longer would only make the situation worse, because it meant there was more time to sit and think obsess over it, and obsessing wouldn't help any.

"You know the storm will not stop, Rikku. We're moving on, with or without you," Auron said quietly, stepping closer to me. "We've wasted enough time here, catering to _your_ needs," he added, the words similar to the time he scolded me after the fight with Chimmy.

"Fine," I whispered without even a glance in his direction. "Let's go, Yunie. I'm sorry to have _wasted_ your time."

"Wait, Rikku..." she started, but I already started to move, brushing past without moving my eyes towards her, and the rest of the party started silently alongside me. Auron was the only person ahead of me, and I was just far enough in front of everyone else to be out of earshot of them. I gave his back a death glare, but realizing that a death glare did nothing when someone doesn't know its being given, I instead said the first thing that came to my mind.

"To think that I thought you understood me..." I whispered.

His back tensed up slightly, but he didn't stop.

Neither of us could stop once we got started, it seemed.

**AN: I was completely uninspired for this chapter, but I wrote it anyway. Funny how that happens... I love you, reviewers. You guys make me feel good enough to push out another chapter when I feel like giving up on this whole stupid thing. So thanks. You're awesome and if I could bake you some cinnimon cookies, I would.**


	18. Complex

_You took it back  
__How could you go and do something like that  
__My fingernail phase  
__Worst has got the best of you  
__I ask you and I know I need to change  
__You took it back  
__You ripped my heart out of me then you put it back  
__I'm pulling my hair  
__I let you just a million times  
__I love you even though it isn't fair_

_-_**"Greener With the Scenery" **by the Used

"Rikku, don't be angry with me..." Yuna said, walking faster than I've ever saw her little boots carry her to catch up with me.

The group was spread out over the path, Tidus dancing ahead getting electrocuted, Auron just behind him, stubbornly looking forward as he mindlessly walked to the next destination. Yunie and I were next in line, then Wakka and Lulu were farther behind, talking of Blitzball and coconuts, for some odd reason. Kimahri brought up the rear, stabbing his Lance into the ground for every step that he took, and keeping watch for the fiends behind us.

I grunted, sounding a bit like Mr. Meaniepants himself, and kept up the pace. She sighed quietly, and then tried again. "You didn't waste my time, really, you didn't."

"Obviously I did, or else everyone wouldn't have looked at me like that when he said it," I mumbled, glaring at the tall, dark, handsome... MEAN, MEAN, MEAN person in front of me. I don't know why I was being snotty with Yunie, she didn't deserve it at all. But, she didn't back down, and I admired her for it. I certainly wouldn't want to talk to me at this point. "And I'm not angry with you, I'm... pouting, I guess."

She smiled slightly, and I had the odd feeling that she was amused with me, which made me feel even worse. "Yes, I noticed. What's the matter, Rikku? You know you can tell me."

"I can't tell anyone, Yunie, or else you would already know," I muttered, looking up at the lightning above us. The sky lit up every few seconds, and although I was scared out of my mind, I was kind of starting to think that death by lightning would be the preferred way to go.

"It's serious though, isn't it?" she asked quietly, and I nodded, figuring that she deserved to know that much. "Well, it must be, considering you're pouting and Sir Auron hasn't looked at you since we left the inn."

"Oh, really? I haven't noticed," I said, pretending to be indifferent, even though that comment really made me feel even worse than I already did. I, of course, noticed that he hadn't looked at me, but I was thinking maybe he snuck a glance when I wasn't looking at him, which would have had to be within the five seconds of the last hour that we were walking. Unlikely, yes, but a girl can dream, can't she?

"Yes, you have," she replied. "You've been staring at his back for the past hour, Rikku."

Embarrassed, I turned to look at her. "That's... That's not important right now, Yunie. I want to know what happened when I wasn't standing there at the Farplane."

"Tidus told you?" she asked, shocked. "I told him you didn't need to worry about that right now."

"No, the person who doesn't need to worry right now is _you_. That, along with the whole Maester Marriage Extravaganza is enough to make anyone go nuts, but you shouldn't have to worry about it, so tell me," I nudged her when she didn't start talking, and batted my eyelashes obnoxiously at her. "Oh please, please, Miss Summoner Lady Yuna of Besaid, tell me everything!"

She smiled slightly, again, but this time it wasn't realy with amusement. "I can't tell you anything without telling everyone else. And I will tell... soon."

Telling... everyone... else? What the... My mind started racing at the implications of that statement, and I remembered something that Auron said to me earlier.

_"Yuna is under the impression that his marriage proposal is real."_

Real. This _cannot_ be good.

"This is starting to sound serious, Yunie... And I don't think I like it. I don't like it one bit," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms and grunting a few times for good measure.

She sighed, looking away from me. "You probably won't, but it has to be done."

We walked silently a few more steps, getting soaked by the rain that just _wouldn't_ stop. "Sometimes, Yunie, I think we're too much alike for our own good," I mumbled slowly, breaking the silence.

"Us, alike?" she said, shocked. "Rikku, I don't think we're that much alike, personality wise, at all. I mean, you're loud, I'm quiet. You're cheerful about everything, I'm always worried. You're hyper, I'm calm..."

"But, we both seem to have this complex where we have to save everyone in the world, regardless of what else happens," I interrupted. "We're alike in that way, and the longer I have this personality trait, the worse life seems to get. It was so much easier when I didn't even care..."

She paused, thoughtful. "You're right... But, who are you trying to save?"

"Two stubborn people who don't listen worth crap," I grumbled, kicking a few rocks along the side of the dirty path.

She burst out laughing, "Well, good luck with that, Rikku."

Silence overcame us, and we both walked quietly along the path, ignoring all of the conversations buzzing around us. Wakka and Lulu were still talking of Blitzball and coconuts, and Tidus was pestering Auron about something... probably me, actually. The sky was still black, and lightning still streaked across the sky.

And I was still pouting. Great. Life couldn't _possibly _get any worse.

Or... maybe it could.

"Rikku, _watch out!_" Yuna screamed at the top of her lungs. My mind wasn't working properly though, and instead of moving like _any sane person_, I looked up at the sky very... slowly...

And saw the longest, hugest, brightest lightning bolt that has ever existed coming down on top of me.

Everything moved in slow motion. I turned my head from side to side... Saw the horror in everyone's eyes... Saw Tidus turn around... Heard everyone shout, but couldn't make out the words...

And Auron turned around... Moving faster than I've ever seen him, he started running towards me...

I reached out... But, it was too late.

The fear on Auron's face was the last thing I remembered before everything went black.

**AN: Hey everyone! Yes, being uninspired is apparently helpful, considering this chapter just randomly popped out today. So, hopefully it's up to par, and whatnot... On the subject of Auron's OOCness... Yes, I know he's a bit.. off. Okay, I admit it, lol. But,here's my thoughts on it. I tried to keep him as close to in character as possible during the moments where they actually show them together in the game. But, during the parts that I make up, he can be slightly more talkative, because he's with just her, and don't most people talk more when they're only with one person, opposed to a group with a bunch of huge talkers? I know I do... But that's my logic. **


	19. Boots

_See my eyes, they carry your reflection  
__Watch my lips and hear the words I'm telling you  
Give your trust to me and look into my heart  
__And show me, show me what you're doing  
__So sit on top of the world and show me how you're feeling  
What you feel is what I feel for you  
Take my hand and if I'm lying to you  
__I'll always be alone, if I'm lying to you_

_-_**"Take My Hand"** by Dido

"Oh no... Please Rikku, come back to us..." I heard Yunie's voice faintly breaking through my mind, where before all I could hear was the sound of drumming water and the beating of my head against the pavement. My body was slightly burning a bit, but not as much as it should have been. Was I healing?

I moaned quietly, and started to roll my body slightly. "Ohh... no... no... no..." I mumbled, shaking my head from side to side, cracking my eyelids open a bit, silently pleading with the sky and the dirt and the clouds that whatever it was that smelled like burning cabbage wasn't me. Please.

"RIKKU!" Tidus jumped up into the air, randomly clicking his heels together for no apparent reason. "You're alive? Great! Now I can go dodge more lightning bolts."

"Tidus, _sit down_," I heard Auron growl, his voice resonating in my spine. I knew that voice like I knew my times tables... or at least, were _supposed_ to know my times tables. Bad example. I knew that voice like I knew the password to Home (which is "sand surprise", by the way), and he sounded like he was _mighty_ crabby. Hmm... Wonder why?

"You sit down..." I mumbled, rolling onto my stomach in the mud, feeling the rain drip down my face. I found myself nose to toe with his dark boots, but instead of moving away like a normal, uninjured person, I leaned my head down on the top of them. "And don't yell at him..."

"Rikku," Lulu said, her voice having a slight edge of humor to it, "Do you have any idea what happened?"

Amazing. His boots didn't even stink. I wrapped my arms around his leg, and snuggled more into his boot, feeling my head start to get dizzy again. I could feel his leg tense up a bit, but I honestly didn't care if he was uncomfortable or not.

"Uh..."

"Rikku, _get off_ my boot," Auron interrupted, nudging me with his other foot.

"Just let her catch her breath, ya? Jeez..." Wakka said, before he realized exactly _who_ he was talking to. "Uh... I mean, um... I'm sorry, Sir Auron, it's just, she just got struck by lightning. She might need your boot for a few minutes before she can get back up again."

Auron grunted above me, and nudged me again, but I wasn't moving. "Yeah... listen to Wakka..." I said sleepily, holding onto his leg even tighter than before. "I think I need to sleep... Good night..."

"Oh _no_, you don't," Yuna said quickly, before she started mumbling. "Curaga," she finally said with a smile as the pink glow wrapped it's way around my body.

Leaning on Auron's other boot, I pushed with my arms, shoving myself off of the ground. But, I figured out that my legs still felt woozy, so there, in the middle of the muddy, rainy, thunderstormy Thunder Plains, I plopped my butt on the top of my heels and looked up past the rest of the group to the sky.

To my surprise, we weren't out in the open, like usual. Somehow they found their way, with no help from me, to an old, ratty looking shelter. Sure, it didn't have much, like... Oh, I don't know, walls? Doors? Windows? But it had a roof, and I guess that's all that mattered.

"Feel better now?" Yuna smiled as she leaned down to feel my forehead. "You started running a fever, before S... um, before we could get you over here."

I brushed her hand away from my face, feeling myself blush a bit. Here we go again, with I, the fabulous Rikku, wasting everyone's time. "I feel fine, Yunie. Just peachy." I started to stand up, but the second I let go of the ground, my knees started knocking together, like my nervous system was suddenly attached the wrong way. I collapsed to the ground in the same position as before, with my face in Auron's boots.

"Get _OFF_ my boots!" Auron said sternly, nudging my face away from him again. "You're getting them dirty."

"Grow up," I mumbled, pulling myself back up again. "On second thought, Yunie, is it okay if we take a breather for a minute or two? I'm not exactly sure my legs feel like doing the whole walking thing right now."

"That's fine, Rikku," Yunie smiled. "I have something to talk to everyone about anyway."

Oh _great._ Here we go.

Auron sighed with disgust, and turned away from the group, looking out into the storm. I nudged his boot with my finger. "Hmmmph. What do you want?" he growled, refusing to look at me.

"Let her talk without discouraging her, Auron. You know she deserves our attention," I said quietly. Then, looking away from his face and towards Yunie, I smiled. "Go ahead Yunie. We're listening."

She looked around nervously at all of our anxiously awaiting faces, trying to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. "I... I've decided to marry."

"NO!" I exploded, jumping up from my spot, legs still wobbling but I didn't even care. Tidus had a similar reaction, his hair flailing about wildly as he screamed with me, our voices in stereo. The rest of the group took it a bit more calmly, Lulu shaking her head slightly, Wakka scratching his in confusion, Kimahri standing still, not saying a word as usual, and Auron staring off in the distance at that same exact spot that he was before.

"I was afraid of this..." Lulu said quietly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said quietly, giving me a look. I calmed down slightly, sinking back into the mud in a heap. "Maester Seymour was right... My marriage might be the only thing that could keep their minds off of Sin right now."

"You're already sacrificing enough for the sake of Spira, Yunie," I said, staring at my hands. "You don't have to give up on love too." I glanced over at Tidus, who looked like he was about to cry and about to beat the crap out of someone at the same time... Truthfully, I felt the same way.

"Will you continue with your pilgrimage?" Auron asked calmly, without any of the panic that crept into my voice without my control. As usual, he took everything in stride, never panicing, never blowing up... well, except for when it was about me.

"Yes, of course. The people of Spira depend on me," she nodded.

"Then do what you need to do," he said without much feeling.

"How can you even say that?" Tidus screamed at Auron. "She's throwing her life away!"

I looked over at Lulu in confusion at his statement. She shook her head slightly, and I nodded, understanding. Apparently, my good buddy didn't realize yet that being a summoner meant throwing your life to the wolves _anyway. _And, if they weren't telling, I wasn't saying a word either, because they probably had a good reason.

"It's none of our concern, boy. Let her make her own decisions," Auron said calmly to Tidus, who was standing toe to toe with Mr. Calmness, spitting fire.

Finally, a voice of reason came into my mind, and I calmed down. I remembered the little fact that Seymour wasn't _serious_ about marrying Yunie, he was just saying that so we had to go to Macalania, which made everything much better. Standing up shakily, I held onto Yunie's shoulders, looking into her eyes. They were filled with resolve, definatly, and something else that wasn't exactly happy. That's when it hit me.

She didn't want to do this _either._

"Yunie..." I started, when suddenly a hugely, loud, thunder boom shook the ground. "SHUT UP!" I screamed at the sky, before I turned back to her. "Yunie, I wish I could just help you somehow... Is there anything that I can do for you?"

She smiled slightly. "Getting to Macalania without any more injuries would be helpful." We both started laughing, and then she continued, "No, Rikku, I'm fine. But thank you anyway."

"Well, since that's settled..." Lulu said, looking back and forth at me and Yunie, "We should probably move on before the storm gets any worse."

We all nodded, and walked out from under the shelter, our slightly drying clothes getting drenched instantly. I walked slowly along the path, barely noticing anything around me, when I realized that Auron had slowed down beside me.

"You handled that very maturely, Rikku," he said without looking at me. "I'm proud."

"... Thanks," I said quietly, shocked that he was even speaking to me at this point. "Thanks a lot."

He nodded slightly, then sped up, leaving a slightly smaller space between us. It was barely noticable, but it was _enough_, and it was all that I could get.

And I've learned to take what I can get.


	20. Miss You, Hate You, Love You

_Some of us hover only waitin' for the other who was  
__Dying since they day they were born  
Well, well, this is not that  
I think that I'm throwing, but I'm thrown  
__And I thought I'd live forever, but now I'm not so sure  
__You try to tell me that I'm clever  
__But that won't take me anyhow, or anywhere with you  
__You said that I was naive and I thought that I was strong  
I thought, "Hey, I can leave, I can leave  
__Oh but now I know that I was wrong, 'cause I missed you  
__Yeah, I miss you_

_-_**"Stay (I Missed You)"** by Lisa Loeb

There was a lack of wetness coming from the sky.

I don't exactly know when I noticed it, or why I did, but somehow the small fact seeped into my brain like a virus, and I looked up from the beaten path that I had been staring at for hours, thinking about everything and nothing all at once. But everything and nothing didn't seem to matter anymore, considering that one special fact... The lack of wetness.

And one glance told me that I was right.

"Wow..." I sighed quietly, my step faltering. We were standing at the gate of something wonderful, something that could quite possibly be the most beautiful place in the entire world. And I mean, better looking than ANYTHING, including Home on the first day it was complete, when it was spick and span and shiny, better looking than any beach or pyrefly river or... anyplace, honestly. The air had a blue-like quality, the trees grew wild and crazy, and the path zig-zagged as far as the eye could see. But, there were crystals and butterflies everywhere I looked, and light passed through the trees in mysterious ways. It was _amazing_.

"Macalania Forest," Auron grunted. "About time we got here."

Everyone groaned at his comment, me included. "It doesn't matter when we got here, as long as we got here all in one piece," I said, trying to cheer everyone up. "Right?"

"True," Lulu nodded. "We're lucky we passed through the Thunder Plains with minor injuries."

"Except for Rikku over here," Wakka laughed, nudging me on the shoulder.

I smiled and shrugged him off, stepping a bit further into the trees. I don't really know what fascinated me so much about the forest, but something was drawing me in, and I couldn't help but go deeper inside. I was a few feet in before Yunie called out to me.

"Wait, Rikku! Don't go in any further."

I turned, confused. "How come?"

"I think we should stop for the night, just to rest up before we get too deep inside. I'm sure there are many dangers that we need to be prepared for, and it would be better if we were all rested when we faced them."

"Oh," I nodded. "That makes sense."

Hours passed as we set up camp, the boys setting up the tents and fetching wood, and the girls starting the fire and cooking. It was the very first time that I had slept outside of an inn since I joined the group, and although Tidus mentioned it, I didn't really think much about it. Now there were things to think about, like who would keep watch while the others were sleeping, who would help cook, where everyone would go for their private time to themselves.

Yunie was entertaining herself by practicing her black magic on the pile of wood in the middle of the campsite. "Fire.." she mumbled. "Come on, fire..."

Lulu stood back, smiling slightly. "Use more force, Yuna. You need to say it like you mean it."

"Fire," she said louder. "Fire." She waved her staff a bit, then moved her arms in ways that I couldn't even begin to understand. "It's not working..."

"Here, Yunie, listen," I said, getting up from my spot against a tree, where I was searching for something more interesting to eat than what we had in our supplies. "I know I don't really know the basics, but when Lulu says, "Say it like you mean it," you have to say it like you _mean_ it. Like this..." I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and something mystical happened.

My hands started moving of their own accord, and I could feel a burning pressure building up inside my palms, just waiting to come out. First, my arms moved over my head, moving back and forth slightly.

"_Fire..._" I breathed out, and my hands crashed down in front of my face, my fingers snapping together.

I opened my eyes slightly, breaking myself out of my own spell, and to my surprise, the logs were burning, spreading warmth and making fun crackling noises. "Holy crap..." I choked out. "Lulu, tell me you did that."

She chuckled a bit as she stepped closer to the fire, "No, Rikku, I didn't. When did you learn black magic?"

"Uh... never? That was my first try," I said quietly, nervously looking around myself. Luckily, no one noticed my little trick but Lulu and Yunie, and for that I was glad. I mean, come on, if they knew I could cast spells, they would expect me to use them all the time to protect myself and stuff, and what would be the fun in _that_? It's much more fun to mix random objects together and throw them around. Blowing stuff up is always way more fun than splashing someone with water, or toasting them.

Although, I must admit, making fiends burn was starting to sound appealing.

"Amazing, Rikku!" Yunie exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You're a natural."

"I'm sure if you were to practice, you would become very powerful. It would be a useful skill for you to gain," Lulu added.

"Uh huh. Yeah. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz," I said, smiling slightly, looking down at my fingers in awe. "Maybe I'll keep trying it."

"Good idea," Yunie said, as we all went back to work, the girls watching me more carefully from then on. And they weren't the only ones watching, either...

Later on, after everything was cooked and set up, we all sat around the fire, silently picking at our food. I wasn't even one bit hungry, and I could tell that no one else was either, but we still pretended for Yunie's sake, considering she made everything. The trees blew silently above us, and Kimahri sat away from us, against a tree, silently watching the path for any creatures that might want to kill us.

Finally, I had enough. Standing up, I threw my food into the fire, brushed the crumbs off my shorts, and said, "Hey... I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"Alone?" Yunie asked, concern filling her face. No one else really seemed like they were paying any attention, including Auron, who was picking at his food across the fire from me. A small glance up from behind his glasses told me otherwise, though.

"I'll be fine... I'll bring my claw, okay?" I said reassuringly, and she nodded.

I turned away from them, and started down a different path than the one we took, knowing that I would somehow find my way back. I've always been good at directions, since I've had to navigate my way around Bikinal Island. But then again, it's desert, and in the desert, the landscape changes every five seconds. Which means a simple forest should be a piece of cake, right? Right.

I walked down the path for what seemed like hours, although it could have been ten minutes and never noticed the difference, when I finally saw what I was looking for. A small path veering off to the left, and a clearing beyond it.

Exactly the place where I could clear my head...

The clearing was relatively small, just a meadow with a small stream passing through. But it was enough, because the grass was short, the rocks under the water were glowing, and there was a patch of sky directly above, where the stars were winking at me. I plopped myself on top of a boulder and stared off in the distance.

"I miss you..." I whispered before I could catch myself, my voice barely audible.

I looked around, checking to make sure that no one was around, and said it again. "I miss you... I miss you..." Louder and louder, I kept repeating myself. "I miss the way you smiled at me when I was being silly... I miss the way that you would laugh when I was serious..." I could feel myself starting to tear up, but I had to keep going, or else I wouldn't be able to make it through the next few days. I just had to get everything out, once and for all, even if he couldn't hear me. "I miss flinging you out of a window with a pink dishtowel... And I miss dancing with you along an empty path... And I miss the way that you used to look at me..."

The sparkles of light from the stream were getting blurry inside of my eyes, from the tears clouding everything up. I sat for a second, pausing after the last thing I said, and then started speaking again. This time though, I wasn't feeling peaceful. "And I hate the way you look at me now... And I hate the way that you make me feel guilty... And I hate the fact that if I never met you, I wouldn't be in this predicament..." At this point, I could feel myself starting to scream, but I knew that I was far enough away from camp to get away with it. So, instead of holding myself back, I just jumped up on top of the boulder I was formerly sitting on, and just let go.

"And I hate the way you speak to me these days... And I _hate_ the fact that you still haven't figured out that I have to protect _you_! _You, you, you._ How could you not understand that? Who else would I do this for? Who else would I be this _misrable_ for? Why else would I be throwing myself in front of Seymour, going "Take me, take me!" if it wasn't for _YOU_? I just _hate_ that you're so damn dense!"

Tears were streaking down my cheeks, and I swiped them away angerly, jumping down from the boulder and taking my place next to the stream, screaming out into the sky. And I was screaming louder than I've ever screamed before, my voice cracking under the strain.

"And I hate you, hate you, _hate you..._ _Hate... Hate..._" Down to my knees... "_H..Hate... Hate..._" Head in my hands... "_Hate you..._"

"And I absolutely, positively, _hate_ the fact that I'm in love with you, you big, stupid, idiotic, meanie. I love you, and I _HATE_ that. I love you, love you, _love you..._"

"And I know thatyou'll never, _ever_ love me again, after what I've done..."

"Who said that I ever stopped?"

My head turned so fast that I was sure I got whiplash, and there he was, Sir Auron the Almighty, in all of his glory, standing a few feet behind me. His glasses were off and his collar had disappeared, but I could see every part of his face, every part that he had kept hidden, and I knew that he meant it to be that way. I wiped the tears from my face quickly, and turned back around.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were back at camp..."

"That's not important," he said, as he stepped closer to me, his boots making soft whispers on the grass underneath them.

I stood up slowly, still facing the stream. "And how much did you hear?"

"Enough," he said quietly, finally closing the gap between us, his arms reaching around my stomach. I leaned back into him without even thinking, and his arms squeezed tighter.

For once in my life, I didn't know what to say. So, I kept quiet, staring out at the stream, refusing to look at his face. I was being cowardly, and I knew it, but I couldn't make myself look at him.

"You know what, princess?" he whispered into my ear.

"What?" I whispered back, breathing deeply, feeling the smell of _it_ take over my senses.

"I miss your schemes, your smile, your laugh..." he chuckled. "... How you stole me back... I miss every single little bit of you. I miss the way that you can make anyone happy, without even trying. And I need that... I _need_ you. I need your light, your cheerfulness, your love... Because I love you just as much, if not more, than you love me."

Tears were falling down my cheeks again as he turned my body around, holding my chin between his hands. He made me face him, look him straight in the eye, and I knew I could never resist. "Me?" I squeeked out.

"Yes, you," he smiled, before his face became serious again. "And _you_ are going to have to protect yourself before you protect me, princess, understand? None of this sacrificing yourself for me. I can take care of myself, and I will take care of you, I promise. Seymour won't lay a finger on you without having to hear from me."

I smiled slightly through my tears, running my fingers over his face again. "I'll try... But I can't help it! I just have this compulsion to protect you."

"Funny... I have the same problem..." he whispered before his lips came down to meet mine.

**AN: Enjoy guys. This chapter took a bit of time to make right... Sure, they're a bit fluffy... well, not really, but kinda. But come on, she's still gotta face Seymour, right? Haha, that's a few chapters away too... Hoo boy, that'll be some good fun to write. By the way, I love all of you. You make me smile and make me laugh and your reviews are so awesome. So have a lovely weekend, you deserve it!**


	21. Captain Obvious

_Don't be scared of anything at all  
__Everything we have is all we need  
__All the spotlights streaming into angry skies  
__Means there's no one watching as we leave  
__Say the first thing that  
__Comes into your mind when you see me  
__If it looks like it works and it feels like it works  
__Then it works  
__With the sun on your face  
__All these worries will soon disappear  
__Just follow me now..._

_-_**"Wow"** by Snow Patrol

I pulled away from Auron slowly, feeling a silly smile come to my face. I couldn't even speak, really, and it seemed like he was in the same predicament. We just stood there together, holding each other as tight as we could, and I thanked everything from the stars to the sea that we were there together, even just for a moment.

"So..." he grunted, his eyes twinkling with something close to glee, "Still hate me?"

My eyes opened wide in shock, and he started laughing. "Just how long were you standing there?" I screeched, and he laughed even louder.

"The whole time. Yuna sent me to follow you, and I had you in my sight and hearing range the entire walk here," he grinned. "Besides, you were screaming, princess. It wasn't too hard to hear you."

"Oh no... oh no..." I mumbled, looking away from him, feeling extremely embarrassed. I mean, there I was, screaming out my feelings because I thought no one would hear me, and _someone_ just had to be listening the whole entire time.

"Hey..." he said quietly, his hand coming underneath my chin and making me look him in the eye. "You had every reason to hate me. I wasn't exactly acting mature..."

"No, it's not your fault," I said quickly. "And I didn't hate you. I was frusterated, yes, and misrable, and lonely, but that's still not a good enough reason for me to be standing there, screaming about hating you so that everyone from here to Bikinal could hear me."

He started combing my hair out of my eyes with his fingers, and my eyes teared up quickly, at the pure sweetness of it. "I still don't blame you."

"You should."

"I was being an ass."

"No, I was."

"_Rikku,_" he sighed, obviously exasperated with me. "Stop. You didn't do anything wrong."

I pulled away from him and started pacing back and forth, my hands slapping against the sides of my legs as I walked. I know it was an unconcious nervous action, but I couldn't help myself, and I certainly wasn't going to stop myself. Auron stood back, watching me, smiling slightly as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"It's just, I don't know what to do these days... And I'm really nervous about being here, and having to go there, because what if everything goes wrong? And what if I do get everyone killed, or what if he does drag me away without anyone being able to stop him? What if I can't stop him, Auron?" I rambled on. He tried to answer me, but I just waved his words away, and kept talking.

Maybe, maybe, if I just kept talking, everything would just away...

"Everything about this feels wrong, and I don't know if I should even be here. Not _this_, as in you and me, but THIS. This whole damn situation. And I don't like this, and I thought I had the perfect solution, but even that backfired..."

"What was that?" he interrupted. "Staying away from me?"

I looked away from him for a moment, holding my breath. Maybe telling him _everything_ would be the proper way to go about things... "Well, yeah. Staying away from you."

"Hm," he grunted. "That didn't work."

I stopped for a second, staring at him in shock. He stared back at me, same normal expressionless expression on his face. Wow.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I said without any expression, before I burst out laughing, shaking my head. "I can't believe you even _said_ that."

"What did I say?" he asked, slightly confused.

"_Obviously_, my plan didn't work, or else I wouldn't be talking to you right now. I would be... ah, probably sitting in a tree somewhere, contemplating what I was going to do with the years of my life spent in a dirty dungeon in the basement of Seymour's humble abode. I mean, I shouldn't complain, because it probably would be _kinda_ entertaining, because I still wouldn't be in the dungeon yet, so that would be a plus. But I mean..." my voice trailed off as I realized that he was staring at me. "... Yeah. Uh... What?" I said slowly, brushing at my face to make sure I didn't have anything on it.

Not that I would have anything on it, mind you, but the fact that he was staring so intently at me made me think that _something_ had to be wrong.

"Amazing..." he said quietly.

"What is?" I asked nervously, my hands clasping behind my back as I leaned on the heels of my feet.

"How brave you are..." he whispered, smiling slightly. "You're walking off to what very well could be your death and everyone else's, if you're not careful, and you're still trying to laugh and make jokes. On one hand, that could be considered slightly immature..." He put up his hand to stop me from protesting. I just shut up and let him keep speaking, considering he let me ramble on without interrupting before. "But because it's you, it's not immature. It's brave."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, my knees giving out underneath me, causing me to sink into the damp ground. "It is immature, Auron. I should be more serious about this."

"No," he shook his head. "You shouldn't."

He sunk down to the ground in front of me, and held my face with his hands, forcing me to look at him. "You're trying to keep everyone happy, Rikku, at the expense of your own feelings. And if I didn't know any better, I would probably be just as fooled as everyone else," he chuckled slightly. "But I _do_ know you better than that. Your smile hasn't reached your eyes in days... but you just keep on smiling. Not only that, but you've been trying to take on everyone else's problems, and bury them into your quick wit and understanding. That's _brave_, Rikku. Braver than I could ever be, and I admire you for that."

My eyes held his for a moment, and I melted at his words. He really did believe everything that he was saying, and I couldn't understand why. "I'm _not_ brave, Auron... I'm just dealing with the cards I've been dealt, that's all. I'm sure you would do the same thing, if you were in my position."

He got really quiet for a second, and something clouded over the emotion in his eye, closing him off. "Auron?" I whispered, reaching out to touch his face, but he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"I was never dealt your cards before," he whispered slowly, forcefully, shocking me with the tone of his voice. "But I was dealt something close. And I didn't do what you are willing to do, I did something else... Something idiotic. I reacted without considering my options, and everything instantly became worse."

"What happened?" I asked shakily.

"All in due time, princess. You'll find out eventually," he said, closing the subject without a second thought. Standing up, he brushed off his knees slightly and looked down at me. "We probably should get going, Rikku. Yuna will be needing us to keep watch."

"Uh... Okay," I said, slightly confused. "Let's go then," I mumbled, and picked myself off the ground. We started walking back to the camp in silence, and I couldn't help but think about how weird the whole last bit of our conversation had been.

Why wouldn't he tell me? I mean, it wasn't like he HAD to tell me what happened. It would have been nice though, because that would have meant that he trusted me and everything else that was good and kind and lovely about being _in love_ with someone, you know, how he claimed to feel about me. I couldn't understand it, but I just decided to drop it, considering the fact that he was right. I _would_ find out eventually, even if that meant I had to pester him to death to do it.

And I wasn't above pestering him, not by a long shot.

Suddenly, I felt his hand grasp mine, and we slowed down. "Princess?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me something," he said quietly, turning my body to face him.

"Like what?" I giggled slightly. "The moon? The stars? Cinnamon cookies? Tell me."

"Promise me that you aren't coming up with some cockeyed scheme that involves saving me and killing you, or something just as stupid.Whateverhappens, we're doing this together. Agreed?" he said seriously, staring at me with that eye, and I couldn't move a muscle, let alone disagree.

"I promise..." I whispered. "Whatever happens, we're in this together."

"Good," he said, turning to leave again, but I stopped him.

"But, you better not complain, Auron, because you asked for it!" I said, and he started laughing.

He leaned down, gave me a kiss, and I saw stars. "I asked for it, all right..." he whispered, before we continued on to camp.

**AN: Gone for the weekend, hopefully everyone likes this one! Most likely another update next week. Wow... this story has my flying by the seat of my pants, haha. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, each place takes a few chapters. So I'm not going to have them take forever in the Thunder Plains and then just buzz right past Macalania Forest just so that they can chat with Seymour. That would be too easy, lol. So, you guys get to wait a bit longer for that chapter.**


	22. A Bit More Chipper

_There's a song that's inside of my soul  
__It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again  
I'm awake in the infinite cold  
__But you sing to me over and over and over again  
__So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray to be only yours  
I pray to be only yours  
I know now you're my only hope_

_-_**"Only Hope"** by Mandy Moore

We were back at camp before either of us spoke again, the silence being far too comfortable for words to intrude. It was odd for me to be quietly happy, but I was too busy contemplating our situation to really be paying attention to much else.

I wasn't allowed to sacrifce myself for him, but I couldn't come up with anything better. How could I save Auron and Yunie all at once, without anyone getting hurt? Simple, I get rid of me! But, unfortunatly, I promised him that I wouldn't, and I never go back on my promises. Never, ever, ever go back on promises.

"Sir Auron take watch?" I heard, more than saw, Kimahri move from the tree he had been sitting at during dinner and slowly walk towards the smoldering fire in the middle of our camp, then past it to the tents on the other side. He hesitated slightly, waiting for Auron's reply.

"Hm," Auron grunted, and nodded. "Good night, Kimahri."

"Good night, Sir Auron and Rikku."

"Sweet dreams, Kimahri," I said quietly, and Kimarhi, getting the replies he needed, climbed under the folds of fabric into the cloth tent. A few second of shifting things around, and then all was silent in the camp.

Quiet and calm, silent and peaceful. I sighed slightly, and made my way slowly over to the tree where Kimahri kept careful watch during the hours we were gone.

Auron's hand clasped my shoulder, stopping me and whipping me out of my thoughts. His eye shined slightly in the dark as he spoke, "You should go to bed too, Rikku."

"Are you _crazy_?" I whispered forcefully. "We don't have much time to figure things out..."

"And we have tomorrow," he interrupted. "You need your rest."

I turned my body towards him, and gazed up at his face. The collar was lowered, his neck was held stiffly, and I could tell he was trying to be stern... But his eyes gave him away. For someone who was usually so stoic, he was as soft as a marshmellow when it came to me, and the thought of that made my insides jump with giddiness.

I clasped his hands, and held them against my collarbone, trying to keep him with me in some way, I guess. "Just a few minutes."

"No."

"Please?"

"No." His eyes were softening, and I knew I was winning.

"Auron, please? I just want to be with you, just for a few minutes."

And that, my friends, was the winning slam. His usually stern face melted for a quick minute, he smiled slightly, and my stomach twisted into knots. Then, like it never happened, his face snapped right back into the cold mask he usually wore.

He sighed audibly, turning away. "Fine."

I settled down next to the tree, sitting with my back against it, watching out past the fire. Mr. Wonderful, being the pouty person who didn't win that he was, refused to sit and stood, with his back against the tree trunk, staring off into the opposite direction. He pouted for a few minutes in silence, and I silently giggled, watching him.

Honestly, I couldn't help myself.

"You can sit down, you know," I whispered up at him.

He grunted, but didn't say anything else in response. Well, wasn't that just a roadblock.

"Come on, Auron, I know it's not comfortable up there," I said, patting the ground on the side of me. "Come sit by me, please?"

"You should be in bed, Rikku. Staying up with me will only make you irritable in the morning."

"Well, well, aren't you Mr. Grumpypants," I mumbled, turning away from him. "Fine then, if you don't want to sit by me, you don't have to. But I'm not tired and I'm _not_ going to bed."

He didn't say a word, and chose to stare off into the distance, pretending not to hear a word I said. But I knew better than that, and I knew he was listening to me just as much as he was listening to the sounds of the forest. The fact that he was ignoring me was hurting my feelings a bit though...

"You're making me feel bad..." I whispered. "This is one of the few quiet chances we can spend together. How many more nights like this will we have?"

The sound of his body slipping to the ground reached my ears, and I smiled slightly, turning towards him. "Thank you," I murmured.

He grunted and nodded, and I grinned, knowing his ways. Sliding to the side, I dropped my head down on his leg and gazed out into the forest. He tensed up slightly when we came into contact, but then relaxed again, breathing out in a woosh of air. Reaching up, I grabbed his fingers and slid his hand around my waist, then played with his fingers a bit. His other hand reached up past my shoulders to pat my head, and comb my hair out of my eyes.

We sat like this for a few minutes, in peace and complete silence. It was so silent, in fact, that I could feel my eyes drooping faster than a granade explodes, and with every movement of his fingers in my hair, my mind got more and more tired.

"You're making me sleepy..." I mumbled into the air, clutching his fingers into my chest. "... and I don't want to go to sleep."

He chuckled softly and continued moving his hand across my neck, and then my back. "You're being stubborn, princess." We were quiet for a few more minutes, then he spoke again, surprising me out of my daze. "Since you won't sleep, what will you do instead?" he asked.

"Uh..." I rolled over onto my back, and looked up at his face. He was watching out in the distance, but I knew that he was listening. "I want to sing, actually. But I don't know what I should sing about." He grunted in response, and I smiled slightly. "I can feel a song inside me to sing, I just can't make the words come out. Has that ever happened to you?"

"I don't make a habit of singing, Rikku."

"Hmm..." I mumbled, rolling back away from him again. "Maybe if you did, you would be a bit more chipper."

He laughed out loud at that comment, and I blushed, because I didn't exactly want him to hear that. Serves me right for opening my big, fat mouth. "Think I need to be more chipper?"

"Not chipper, really," I said, trying to backtrack. "But sometimes you seem like you're a cord that's pulled too tight, and maybe if you sung sometimes you would loosen up a bit." And there I was, digging a hole that I couldn't get out of. "Er, I mean... You don't need to loosen up either, Auron. It's just..." I paused slightly, and he was silent. I could sense he was tensing up again, and I knew I had to do something to make him settle back down without him being mad at me.

So, I blurted out exactly what I was feeling.

"You know what, Auron?" I said, sitting up, and turning to face him. "You don't need to do anything. You're perfect exactly how you are, and that's why I love you."

His hands froze midmovement, and his gaze searched my face. "If I were perfect, I would be able to... Hm. I'm not perfect, Rikku. Not in the slightest bit."

I put my hands on his rough cheeks, forcing him to keep looking in my eyes. "Do I _have_ to tell you all of the reasons why I think you're perfect?"

He smiled slightly, "I'm _am_ curious, but you don't have to tell me."

"Fine. You're quiet, yes, but when you speak the world stops to listen. You're serious most of the time, but when you're prodded enough, you can be silly, just like me. You make me laugh, you make me smile, you're the cause for this song in my soul. You're respectful and protective, and I always feel safe when I'm around you, even when you're furious at me..."

He didn't say a word, but he didn't have to. I could see everything he was feeling in his eye, and that was enough.

"Not to mention, you're gorgeous," I grinned. "It's not important, but it's definately a plus."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise at my last words, but I didn't back down. "Liar," he whispered.

"I am not," I said, my eyes piercing his. "Do you really think I would say something that I didn't mean?"

He attempted to turn his head away from me, but I stopped him, and his gaze met mine once more. "No," he grunted.

"Then, why did you say that?"

He hesitated slightly, and my heart stopped. I knew exactly what he was thinking about, and I knew that his confidence about the situation would depend on the motions that I made. So, I did what was needed, what he would do for me, in the same situation...

Moving my hands from his cheeks, I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaned forward, and touched my lips to the scar covering his eye. It was a small kiss, barely even comparable to any of the other kisses we have shared, but in another way, in the mental, confidence, big-time-love kind of way, it was _so_ much bigger.

Pulling away, I gazed into his dark eye for a moment, and then I spoke the first thing that came to my mind, the only thing that stayed there during my actions. "You are gorgeous, perfect in every way, and your scars make no difference." I smiled, and his eye glossed over slightly with emotion that he couldn't keep inside.

"But," I whispered, "if you need me to, I will kiss _every one_ of your scars and make them all better. Understand?"

His eye never left mine as he nodded and tried to speak, his voice choked up a bit, "Y..Yes. I understand."

"Good."

We sat there, leaning on the tree, staring into each others eyes for what seemed like hours. But finally, my eyes started glazing over, and I knew sleep was soon. So with a smile, I laid my head back onto his leg, facing out into the forest, and closed my eyes. "Sing for me, please..." I whispered.

It was quiet for a few moments, but then in a low, quiet tone, his voice murmured a string of words about an old city, keeping promises, and a new journey. I knew that he wasn't exactly singing, but it was close enough for me, and the effort made me smile slightly in my half-awake state. His voice was lulling me under, and I could barely even keep up with the words he was saying, until finally I closed my eyes and sighed, waiting for my dreams to pull me inside.

Sleep was coming swiftly, but not fast enough for me to miss the small kiss on the top of my head.

"Sweet dreams, my princess," he whispered, and then I was gone.

**AN: Fluffy. Very, very fluffy, I know, lol. But, within the next two chapters they'll PROBABLY be arriving at the temple, but I'm not making any promises. I 3 all of you, and THANK YOU for my 300+ reviews! I appreciate and read every single one of them!**


	23. Prickerbushes and a Spherethingy

_I swam across  
__I jumped across for you  
__Oh, what a thing to do  
__Cause you were all yellow  
__I drew a line  
I drew a line for you  
Oh, what a thing to do  
__And it was all yellow  
__Your skin  
__Oh yeah, your skin and bones  
__Turn into something beautiful  
__And you know for you  
I'd bleed myself dry for you  
I'd bleed myself dry_

_-_**"Yellow"** by Coldplay

We followed the same exact pattern of living for _days_.

We walked for miles and miles every day along the twisting paths of the forest, enchanted by the beauty, but still watchful of the fiends that jumped out every single time we relaxed. Then, just before the sun set _somewhere_, because it isn't like we could see it, we set up camp. I practiced my magic on sticks of wood, everyone else set up tents and cooked food that tasted like nothing but water and yuck and ew. Then, when everyone else went to bed, Auron would yell at me to go to sleep, and I would ignore him and pester him until I actually got tired, and then I would take a nap on his lap.

Nap on his lap. Wow, that rhymed.

And of course, I know there was nothing _wrong_ with living like that, but there were certainly better things that we could have been doing. Dancing, tinkering with machina, exploding sand dunes... you know, stuff like that.

But no, Mr. Wonderful had to just keep pushing us on and on and on, even when I gave him my best puppy eyed expression and quivered my bottom lip, pretending to cry. He would just laugh, rub my shoulders a bit, and nudge me forward.

So, when out of no where, Auron started chopping at a bush on his right side, in the middle of the day, miles from where ever we were supposed to set up camp, I thought he just might have lost his mind.

"What are you _doing_?" I hissed at him, poking his back. He glanced over his shoulder, gave me a bit of a smirk, and then turned to Yunie.

"You need to see something. Come on."

So there we were, following Auron blindly through a prickerbush, just because he had to open his big, fat mouth. Auron went first, Yunie was next with Tidus right next to her, I was behind him, and Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri were bringing up the rear. Sticks were swinging everywhere, and Tidus nearly took out my face with one. Grinning slightly, I slid my trusty sunglasses on my nose and pressed on.

"Bring it on, stick," I muttered, doing some kungfu move to slap the sticks away from my face.

"OUCH," Wakka yelped somewhere behind me. "That was my _eye_, Lu! Watch where you're throwing those sticks, ya?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have walked right into one, Wakka," Lulu said calmly, and I started giggling.

"Yeah, Wakka, watch where you're going!" I teased.

"Auron, did you even cut ANY of these?" Tidus called out after being knocked in the stomach by a particularly huge stick.

"Enough of them. Cut some yourself if you need more space," Auron said calmly, and I could see him moving through the prickers as if he was one of them. The sticks just seemed to part in front of his face, and I realized that I totally picked the _wrong_ person to stand behind. But I could see that the end of the bushes was near, so I shoved Tidus a bit, just to move him along.

Unfortunatly for him and everyone else in front of him, I don't know my own strength, so one little shove resulted in Tidus tumbling into Yuna. Yunie, caught by surprise, lost her balance and knocked into Auron, who, for being such a graceful guy, ended up tipping forward just enough to fall, face first, into the grass at the beginning of the clearing that we were aiming for the whole entire time.

Auron stood up quickly, brushed off his coat a bit, and turned to give Tidus the _scariest_ death glare that I've ever seen in my whole entire life. Oh, the boy was dead and he knew it, but in a last effort to scramble for his life, he opened his mouth to protest.

And suddenly, we all turned into a bunch of four year olds.

"Auron, Rikku pushed me!"

The glare went to me, and I gulped. "I did NOT!" I lied, screaming back.

"Well, Tidus shoved me," Yunie said calmly, standing up, and combing the branches out of her hair.

"And _she_ pushed me!" Tidus screeched, his voice taking on a tone that I'm not even sure that MY voice could reach, pointing in my direction with one waving finger.

"I _so_ did not Tidus, and you know it. You tripped," I said, taking Yunie's calm voice for myself, but I crossed my fingers behind my back.

"She's crossing her fingers!" Wakka yelled, and I turned back to glare at him, along with Lulu, who with her gleaming red eyes, caused Wakka's eyes to bug out of his head and his forehead to sweat slightly. "Uh... I mean, of course she didn't cross her fingers, ya? She had to itch her back slightly and uh... Lu, stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what, Wakka?" she said, her voice deadly calm but her eyes spitting fire. I decided not to even get into that, and turned back to face everyone else, and my eyes met another death glare meant for me.

"I was just trying to make him go faster..." I mumbled, looking at my toes. "I didn't know he would fall on his butt and cause such a freaking problem."

Auron didn't say another word, he just stared at me for a few more seconds, and then turned away. "Yuna, this is where spheres are formed," he said, walking towards a beautiful pond that none of us even noticed before.

Yunie sucked in breath and walked closer to the pond. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed.

We all stared for a few minutes, smiling in a daze at the pond. It seemed like our whole group suddenly got calm again, which was pretty surprising considering how loud we were screaming earlier.

That was, until I noticed a clear blob floating up from the middle of the pond. "What the..." I breathed.

"Of course, it draws fiends also," Auron said calmly, swinging his katana onto his shoulder and tapping it slightly.

"Oh, NOW you tell us," Tidus screeched again, causing my head to rattle in pain. God, the kid really needs to learn how to tone down that high pitched screaming...

"If you could just lower your voice a notch, it would make all of our heads feel better," I said quietly, rubbing my forehead. "Now, what are we going to do?"

"Kimahri, Wakka, come on," Auron said, stepping forward.

"Why me..." Wakka grumbled, stepping forward, spinning his ball on his fingers. "Take that, sphere... thingy!" he yelled, and threw his ball with all of his might.

Trouble was, when you hit a spherethingy with something solid, it doesn't really like it very much.

"AAAAH!" he yelled in pain as a thunder spell came crashing down on his head, singeing his hair slightly. "Lu, trade me!"

"Gladly," she said, pushing him out of the way. "Waterga," she breathed, sending a splash onto the fiend.

The battle went on like that for more than an hour, someone hitting the spherethingy with their sword, getting blasted by magic, and someone else casting the counterspell in response. I still hadn't jumped in, and I was itching to do _something_.

Finally, my chance came, with Yunie waving me forward and her stumbling back. "You know some magic, Rikku," she called. "Just try and use it!"

Auron was to my left, Lulu was to my right, but they were both getting tired. "I'm just about out," Lulu said quietly. "But I have enough to protect you if you need it. Have any potions?"

"Yep!" I smiled, and I threw her a Megapotion, and she tossed back to me to give to Auron. "Drink this, please," I whispered, handing it to him. He nodded slightly, and took a big gulp. Sliding it back into my pouch, I stepped forward, and took a glance at the fiend. "Here goes nothing..." I said, jumping forward and digging my hand into its rubbery skin.

I pranced back, waiting for the blast of magic to hit my skin. The fiend drew back slightly, and started to cast Blizzaga. I closed my eyes and steeled myself for the cold...

But to my surprise, I heard everything, but felt nothing. I opened my eyes to find Auron breathing hard in front of me, leaning on his katana. "No..." I breathed, reaching into my pocket for the rest of the potion that I saved.

"Just go," he grunted, pushing me forward.

I was _furious._ Absolutley, positively furious. Which, I suppose, I used to my advantage a bit.

Closing my eyes, I spread my hands out in front of me. "You are _so_ going to pay for this," I whispered, then started the chant for Fire. But, instead of just casting Fire, like I thought I was going to, I breathed a different word instead.

"Fira..." I screamed, shoving my magic out with my fingertips, feeling the blast come from top of my head to the bottom of my toes.

The fiend screeched in pain, and started to shrivel up to nothing in front my very eyes. "Holy canoli," I breathed, clutching my fingers to my chest and tapping my feet from side to side in an odd version of a happy dance. "I did it! I really did it!"

"Yes you did, Rikku," Lulu said proudly, smiling at me from where she stood.

"Go Rikku!" Tidus screamed out, jumping up from his spot next to Yunie. "Good job!"

But all of their voices fell away from my ears, as I turned away from the pond and faced my protector. His eyes shone with pride from where he kneeled, his breathing labored. I collapsed to the ground next to him. "You're hurt..." I said quietly, reaching into my pocket for the potion.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm fine... Don't worry about it."

"But you need..." I tried to say, but he put his hand against my mouth, shutting me up.

"Shhh... I'm fine. Give the potion to Yuna, or someone else who needs it."

"Oh Auron," I whispered, and threw my arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you for protecting me..."

He smiled slightly. "I told you I would," he said, and then he wrapped his arms around my back, collapsing me into an embrace that I would remember forever.

**AN: Less sappy, and more funny this time, I hope. Regardless, the time of Seymour is fast approaching. Next chapter, I'm thinking... So you won't have to wait much longer! Thanks for my reviews everyone, they're really awesome and I love you and all of that good stuff. Have a lovely day and hope you had a good Easter!**


	24. Oh Yeah, ChaChaCha

_Where are you going?  
Where do you go?  
Are you lookin' for answers  
To questions under the stars  
And if along the way  
You are growing weary  
You can rest with me until a brighter day, you're okay  
I am no Superman  
I have no answers for you  
I am no hero, oh, that's for sure  
But I do know one thing  
Where you are is where I belong  
I do know where you go is where I wanna be_

_-_**"Where Are You Going" **by Dave Matthews Band

I shoved the contents of the potion bottle down his throat so fast he didn't even see it coming.

Well, okay. More like I shoved the bottle _towards_ his mouth, and tried to pour the potion down his throat. If he would have cooperated like a normal, cool person, it would have went in his mouth and he would have felt much better. But let's face it, this is Sir Auron the Almighty we're talking about. Mr. I'll-Suffer-In-Silence.

If I didn't love him, it would drive me crazy. But since I do, I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

The bottle tipped when it hit his closed lips, and the potion poured all over his face, dripping down his neck and underneath the collar of his coat. I caught him unsuspecting, our bodies close together in our little embrace, and his eye opened up wide in surprise and shock.

But, thank goodness, his shoulders perked up a little bit. I knew he felt better already... and that was all that mattered, regardless of how much trouble I was going to get into because of it.

"I thought I told you to give that to Yuna," he muttered, whiping off his face in one quick motion, then standing up. "I didn't need it."

"Yes, you did," I said stubbornly back, standing up. "And, I have a few more in my pouch. Here you guys..." I walked over to the rest of the group, handing out the rest of the potions. Everyone took a few swigs, Tidus and Wakka rubbed some on a few open wounds they had, and after a few seconds, the whole party suddenly got a lot perkier. "We can't be weak... We still have a bit further to walk, right? The fiends would eat us alive if we aren't healthy."

"Thank you, Rikku," Yunie said, squeezing my hand as I walked past her to hand a potion to Lulu. "We really appreciate this."

I smiled at her, and squeezed her hand back. "Come on, Yunie. You've got a date with destiny at the end of this forest that you can't miss."

So with that said, we started off again. This time, the prickerbushes had a bit of a path through them, from our last little walk, and we got through much more easily. Maybe it was because Auron was at the back this time, talking to Tidus about something, and we had Lulu up front burning things.

Honestly, fire takes care of prickers much more easily than a simple katana can.

Yunie and I were just behind Lulu, still holding our hands together and swinging them back and forth, as an effort to make the walk seem... happier. In reality, everything was starting to seem hopeless, especially for me, because I couldn't seem to come up with an idea that was better than the one I had before.

"You really care for him, dont you?" Yunie said suddenly, breaking me out of my daze.

"Hmm? Who?" I said flippantly, almost as if I didn't know who she was talking about. Her gaze pierced me, and I knew any lying was useless. "... Yes. Yes I do."

She smiled slightly, and nodded, continuing to walk along the path. We were getting close to the end of the forest now, I could tell, because it was starting to get cold and everything was getting slightly brighter.

Now, in case you didn't realize it by now, I am an Al Bhed. And we Al Bhed... We live in the desert. And see... desert and coldness don't ever seem to go together in the same sentence. Bikinal Island is all sand and metal and hot days and slightly cooler nights and walking around in short-shorts and tanktops, which, HEY, is what I was wearing.

So, when my teeth started chattering well before anyone else even seemed to catch a bit of a chill, I wasn't surprised. The ground was starting to get a bit slippery beneath my feet, and there was... white stuff? Some white stuff, I guess, was sitting on the side of the path in a little pile.

"Uh... Yunie?" I whispered, trying to keep my voice down to spare myself some embarrassment. "What's that stuff?"

"What stuff?" she asked, giving me a strange look. She tilted her head to the side slightly and looked all around her, trying to figure out if she missed something, I could tell.

"Uh... The white stuff."

"That's snow, Rikku," Lulu slowed down a bit to come into line with us, walking beside me. "It's what happens when rain freezes. We must be close to the temple."

"Frozen rain?" I asked. "That's kinda weird..."

"And kind of cold, too," Yunie added. "Will you be warm enough in your clothes, Rikku?"

"Well, I don't have much of a choice otherwise. I'm sure that I can find a coat or something at the temple, hopefully."

They both nodded and we fell silent. The forest was getting extremely bright, the sunlight starting to reflect off of the stones and the snow and flashing everywhere, like we were at a dance party or something. I pulled my sunglasses out of my pouch and shoved them onto my nose, actually needing them this time, instead of hiding from other things. We walked and walked and walked, and I started to drag my feet, until I saw something.

"There!" I screamed. "At the end, down there! Is that the end of the forest?"

"HOOEE!" Tidus yelled, running up besides us. I skipped out in front, and he grabbed my hands and we danced around in a little circle. Everyone was staring at us, but we were excited, and it wasn't like Auron would do a happy dance with me.

"Oh yeah, cha-cha-cha," I started singing, holding my hands above my head and shaking my butt a little bit. Tidus started laughing and did the same thing, slamming his hips against my side, knocking me off the path. I looked at him in shock, and he, being smart for once in his life, took off running. "Oooh, you're going to get it, you meanie!" I yelled after him.

"Rikku!" Yunie laughed. "What are you doing?"

Turning before I took off, I grabbed her hands and started running. "Snow's cold, right?"

"Yes, yes it is. Why?" she said loudly, out of breath, following directly behind me. The rest of the group stayed behind, shaking their heads and laughing.

Making a sudden turn, I pulled her behind a large tree on the side, and we ducked behind it. There was a huge pile of snow just to our left, and if I turned my head a bit, I could see Tidus stop, turn around, and start looking confused ahead of us. "This means war, Yunie. I remember Pops telling me a long time ago about snow... Something about how you can throw it?"

"Ohh!" Yunie's eyes lit up, and she started grinning. "You're talking about making snowballs. Here, grab some snow and I'll show you how to make one."

We both grabbed a pile, and keeping an eye on Tidus, shaped the snow into perfectly formed balls. Then, keeping quiet, we watched him come closer... Then even closer...

"Rikku? Yuna? Where are you?" he called, coming up to the tree we were hiding behind. Yunie sucked in her breath, and I shook my head slightly, wiggling my finger at her. She nodded, and we waited... And waited... And waited... "Hey! Come on guys, this isn't funny... Where are you?"

Jumping out from behind the tree, we both whacked Tidus _hard_ with the snowballs.

We stared at each other for a moment, everyone breathing hard, everyone waiting for the next move. Tidus was covered in snow... It got all over his clothes, some was on his face, and somehow, a bit got in his hair. It was a pretty humorous sight.

Then, Tidus busted out laughing. All of a sudden, Yunie started laughing even harder than he was. Behind us, Wakka was laughing so hard he was hunched over, and Lulu and Kimahri were even chuckling.

I started giggling too, so hard I almost couldn't catch my breath. And when I turned my head to look at Auron, to see his reaction, I noticed that he... Well, he wasn't laughing. Not one bit.

With no one else paying attention to me, I walked back to him, still kind of giggling, but still a bit worried.  
"Is something wrong?"

"No," he said calmly, staring at the rest of the group, all hunched over and out of breath from laughter.

"Then... why..." I started, feeling nervous. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

"Uh... Okay." I tried to get a better look at his face, but his sunglasses were up and his collar covered up to his nose. He was completely closed off, and it was obvious that he didn't feel like talking to me. Finally, I just gave up, and turned to walk away from him.

Catching my hand in his, he swung me back, up against his side. "I'm sorry, Rikku. I'm just... thinking."

"About?"

"The situation waiting for us at the temple."

Turning slightly, and staring back up at his face again, I smiled. "Are you worried about little ol' me, Auron?" I giggled, putting one hand on my hips and striking my goofy model pose.

"Hn," he grunted. "Don't do that."

"What, Auron? What don't you want me to do?" I giggled some more, obnoxiously batting my eyelashes at him. "This?" Putting both hands on my hips, I strutted back and forth as if I wearing the most fabulous outfit in all of Spira, instead of my grimy tanktop and shorts. Swinging my head to flip my hair, I looked at him over my shoulder, and winked.

His mouth turned up slightly at the corner, and he started to chuckle. "You never cease to amuse me, Princess."

"Oh, I try," I said, dropping my voice a few notches lower and prancing in a circle all around him. "Now, listen here, _you._ You're going to be cheerful and happy and... well, as much as you can pull off without seeming out of character. And, you're _not_ going to worry. Understand?"

"Hn. I understand."

"Good," I smirked, turning away from him, shaking my butt a bit as I walked.

I could hear him chuckling behind me, and I knew that what I was doing was working. "Rikku?" he called out.

I turned, and smiled slowly, drawing out every single one of my actions as long as I could. See, I read all of the romantic novels. I know that you're supposed to move slowly, shake your hips a bit, and talk just a smidgen lower to drive your _maaaaaaaaaan_ crazy. "Yes?"

"You keep prancing like that and I'm not liable for my actions. Understand?" he growled under his breath.

My mouth dropped open in shock. Oh. My. God. "Uh... Uh, um... Y..Yeah," I stuttered. My tounge didn't seem to be working properly in mouth. When did he get the upper hand in this game? Obviously, it must have been when I was winking, or something equally obnoxious. How is it that everything I do just seems goofy, where everything he does is just _sexy_? "That totally was not even fair..." I grumbled.

"It was the truth," he whispered, bending down to breathe into my ear, then kiss the side of my head and move quickly in front of me. "Come on, princess," he said, holding his hand out to me. "We're almost there."

The group, still giggling over the snowball fight, walked in front of us, all chattering about everything and nothing all at once. But, other than smiles and secret glances, Auron and I didn't say anything else to each other the whole rest of the way down the path.

Until finally, we reached the end.

"We're here," Yunie breathed.

**AN: They're THERE! We've got a fight with Brother and a fight with Seymour coming up! But, I won't be home this weekend, so at the earliest, new chapter next week, okay? I'm definatly loving up my reviewers right now, on ALL of my stories (Amazing how everyone is discovering Lovesong again... That story definately needs edited and everything else)  
Going to take some time this weekend to do my real passion, photography. What are you all up to for this weekend?**


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